This season, Joanne P. McCallie won two of the three “championships”: ACC regular season and ACC Tournament titles.
But the third, a national championship banner, has eluded her during her six seasons at Duke. After signing a contract extension last week that will keep her in Durham through the 2018-19 season, McCallie said reaching that ultimate plateau remains the goal.
The Blue Devils have reached four consecutive Elite Eights but have yet to make a Final Four with McCallie.
“It’s a little bit of a falsehood to act like the Final Four is the place to be,” McCallie said. “You want to say you’re pursuing championships and want to bring a national championship home to Duke. I don’t have any interest in going to a Final Four and not getting it done.”
With a 33-3 record this season—and two of those losses coming after a season-ending injury to star point guard Chelsea Gray—McCallie improved her record to 174-35 at Duke. The Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament in March for the third time in the last four years and have claimed at least a share of the regular-season title in each of those years. They won the conference outright this year with a 17-1 regular-season record.
The season ended with a loss to Notre Dame in the Elite Eight.
McCallie’s signature for success has been annually bringing in one of the nation’s top recruiting classes. All four classes on next year’s team include at least one top-10 recruit, according to ESPN.
The rising senior class has five players in the top 100 while the incoming freshman class features three players in the top 12, in addition to No. 32 Kianna Holland.
McCallie, though, said she “is not a big rankings person” and narrows down the crop of top players to a select few whose character fits the Duke brand both on and off the court.
“Academics have to be important to the kids we recruit. I’ve had kids tell me, ‘Academics aren’t important to me,’ and I tell them, ‘Well, then you don’t belong at Duke,’” McCallie said. “At the bigger schools, they’re recruiting everybody. I feel very fortunate that we have a smaller, very high-quality pool.”
Athletic director Kevin White cited the basketball players’ successes athletically and academically in a statement announcing McCallie’s extension Friday.
“With her extraordinary winning percentage, coupled with outstanding graduation rates and academic success, we are extremely proud to have an elite coach such as Joanne firmly established as the leader of the Duke women’s basketball program,” White said.
McCallie said she and White first began talking informally about an extension last spring and hammered out the details once this season ended. Financial terms were not disclosed.
McCallie said her relationship with White and his ability to lead Duke’s athletic department is a big reason why she is so committed to the University in the long run.
“He’s on the pulse with everything that’s going on,” she said. “He’s pretty incredible with his knowledge of the national scene, markets and what’s going on in women’s basketball.”
McCallie added that her family has grown extremely fond of Durham. When she moved from Michigan State to Duke in 2007, it was difficult on her then-13-year-old daughter Maddie. Now, McCallie’s son Jack is 13.
“From a family perspective, we feel so fortunate we can be at Duke,” McCallie said.
And now entrenched for at least five more seasons in Durham, McCallie hopes to bring home Duke’s first women’s basketball championship banner to Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“We’ve never met all of our goals since we’ve been here but in the process we’ve accomplished a great deal,” she said. “Someday it would be nice to go three for three.”
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