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University of Houston Athletics
Curl Named Coach of the Year by ESPN.com
3/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 12, 2004
University of Houston women's basketball head coach Joe Curl, the 2004 Conference USA Coach of the Year, who led the Lady Cougars to their first-ever conference regular season championship and a trip to the NCAA post-season for the first time while boasting a school record 27 wins in 2003-04, today was named Coach of the Year by ESPN.com.
Curl was coined Coach of the Year after leading Houston to a school record for most victories (27) en route to its first-ever C-USA regular season and tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years. In addition, the Lady Cougars claimed their best record ever in league play with a 13-1 conference mark, while boasting the second-best road record (14-1) in the NCAA this season.
More impressively, this season Houston has earned its highest ranking ever in school history with a No. 11 showing in this week's Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.
The Lady Cougars have now won 22 of their last 23 games to ride a school-record 12-game winning streak into the Big Dance. Their three losses are respectable -Purdue, Georgia and Louisville - and they have gone 4-2 against ranked opponents this season, including a perfect 3-0 mark against TCU.
Other award winners by ESPN.com include Duke's Alana Beard as Player of the Year and Texas' Tiffany Jackson as Freshman of the Year.
