With the 2020 NCAA tourney tipping off next month, we will spend this month taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players/coaches who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From some game-winning FTs in the 1955 tourney (65th anniversary) through a 17-PT comeback win in the 2015 1st 4 (5th anniversary), these legends have all carved out a little piece of history in past Marches. We continue our series with Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan, who won more than 700 games as head coach at Virginia. She made the postseason in 4 different decades, was a 7-time ACC COY, and had a ridiculous 10-year run from 1987-1996 that included 3 Sweet 16s/4 Elite 8s/2 Final 4s/3-PT OT loss to Tennessee in the 1991 NCAA title game. She coached team USA to a silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games and was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Debbie about the 30th anniversary of beating Pat Summitt in the 1990 NCAA tourney and the 25th anniversary of 1 of the strangest finishes in tourney history.
You played PG at Ursinus: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you get into coaching? I was definitely a PG: you have limited options when you are only 5’3”! I could penetrate and shoot from long range even though we did not have a 3-PT line back then. I always wanted to be in coaching my whole life. I swam as a child and played basketball starting in junior high school, so that became my sport of choice.
1 of your assistants while you were head coach at Virginia was Geno Auriemma: what was he like as an assistant, and what makes him such a great coach? He was great as an assistant: it was hard for him to be an assistant but he had a great demeanor and a great knowledge of the game. I learned a lot from him. There are a number of things that make him a great coach. He maximizes every single player’s potential and is very good at inspiring players to step up and get outside of their comfort zone and play against themselves.
In the 1990 NCAA tourney Dawn Staley scored 25 PTS in a 4-PT OT win over Tennessee: how were you able to finally beat Pat Summitt after losing to her in each of the previous 3 tourneys, and did that make the victory any sweeter? Obviously yes because we were going to the Final 4 in Knoxville: it was 1 of my sweetest wins ever. The whole team believed we could win and we were determined to win that game. It was an amazing accomplishment and a statement to the rest of the world that we had arrived.
In the 1991 NCAA tourney title game Staley scored 28 PTS in a 3-PT OT loss to Tennessee and became the only player from a losing team to ever be named tourney MOP: what made the 2-time national POY such a great player, and where does she rank among the greatest players that you have ever seen? I think she is the greatest that I have ever seen. She is very small but was always 1 of our top rebounders and would play any position we asked her to. She was phenomenal that night. There was a controversial call late in the game where we made a 3 but the basket was taken away because 1 of our players was blocking out too hard, and it really affected us. Dawn fouled out early in OT after cramping up earlier in the game. She knew the game so well and could see plays developing 3 or 4 plays in advance. Growing up in Philly she prepared herself so well.
In the 1993 NCAA tourney Dena Evans made what appeared to be the game-winning 3-PT shot with 0.6 seconds left, but it was disallowed because you called a timeout, then your team’s inbounds pass went out of bounds, then Ohio State’s in-bounder stepped on the end-line, and then your inbounds pass was blocked to give the Buckeyes a 2-PT win: how was your blood pressure doing by the end of that sequence? Katie Smith missed a FT and Jenny Boucek was a freshman who was dribbling up the court. I was trying to call a timeout right after we got the rebound but then decided not to because it looked like Jenny knew what she was doing. It was very poor officiating.
In the 1995 NCAA tourney you had a 1-PT lead with seconds left when Debra Williams missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for Louisiana Tech, but the scorekeeper accidentally recorded it as a made FT so the scoreboard showed 63-all: how weird was it to see both teams celebrating at the end of regulation, and how relieved were you to see referee Dee Kantner finally point to your bench to signal that you won the game? I know there was some controversy so I walked over to Coach Leon Barmore to congratulate him, but then there was a misunderstanding. I knew we won the game but I did not know what was going on.
You were diagnosed with cancer in 2000: how difficult was your recovery, and how is your health doing at the moment? It was a very very tough blow and not easy to overcome but now I am 1 of the longest living pancreatic cancer survivors in the whole world. I feel fine and got very lucky: it is miraculous and I do not know exactly why I am alive. It was even harder to overcome in terms of recruiting because some other coaches actually told high school players that I was going to die.
In your 34 years as head coach you were a 7-time ACC COY (including 1991 national COY) and only had 2 losing seasons: what made you such a great coach, and how were you able to be so successful for such a long period of time? I had really great players and we recruited some great people to come here. I gave them the freedom to play and express themselves on the court. You have to be able to change on a dime and switch direction quickly if you want longevity. If you focus only on your team you can be very good at this, which I did not learn until the latter stage of my career.
Each of your players who completed their 4 years of eligibility ended up graduating: how much importance did you place on academics? A lot: you do not coach at Virginia if you do not understand that from the get-go. This is not a place where sports come 1st: they are always 2nd to academics. Once you win and set a precedent then everyone else starts to figure out who you will recruit, so as long as they are smart enough to get in here then you are fine. I stayed away from kids who would struggle in the classroom because that would end up translating to the court.
In 2008 you were inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It is a very big highlight to be considered for the Hall of Fame by your peers. I will remember it for the rest of my life.