USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year Award News

UCLA head coach Cori Close guided a roster full of stalwart players to an historic regular season that included a 23-game win streak and a No. 1 ranking for half the season. For her success challenging for the regular-season title and then winning the school’s first conference championship at the Big Ten Tournament in their first season in the league, Close is the USBWA National Coach of the Year for the 2024-25 season.

Dawn Staley, the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year who has her South Carolina team back in the Final Four for a second consecutive season and contending for the program's second national championship, is the USBWA National Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. Staley has the SEC-champion Gamecocks (33-2) playing in their fourth Final Four this weekend, each of them under her leadership, following a national semifinal loss to eventual champion Stanford a year ago. In the 2019-20 season, Staley's Gamecocks were 32-1 before Covid forced the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament.

For the season's eighth honorees for games ending Sunday, Jan. 23, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week goes to Kansas State center Ayoka Lee, the organization's Tamika Catchings women's freshman player honor goes to Florida guard Alberte Rimdal, and the USBWA women's national team citation goes to Ole Miss.

For the season's sixth honorees for games ending Sunday, Jan. 9, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week goes to Colorado guard Jaylyn Sherrod, the organization's Tamika Catchings women's freshman player honor goes to Nebraska forward Alexis Markowski, and the USBWA women's team citation goes to Colorado.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association is proud to announce the winners of its three major individual women's awards. The honorees include the NCAA's all-time triple-doubles leader, the coach of the top-ranked team and a freshman sensation off the All-Southeastern Conference team. Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon is the winner of the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the National Player of the Year, Dawn Staley of South Carolina earned the National Coach of the Year Award and Aliyah Boston of South Carolina is the Tamika Catchings Award winner as the National Freshman Player of the Year, based on voting by the USBWA membership. Longtime USBWA representative Mel Greenberg coordinated the voting and selection process.