Jane Albright, head coach of the UW women's basketball team, will resign at the end of the season, Senior Associate Athletic Director Jamie Pollard announced at a press conference Tuesday.
According to Pollard, the team achieved academic and community success, but Albright was unable to meet all of the goals that were laid out for the program when Pollard took on administrative responsibilities for the basketball team seven months ago.
\The on-court success of our women's basketball program has clearly been inconsistent with the resources we have committed to this program, and we have not achieved our desired goals of a Big Ten Conference Championship and deep penetration into the NCAA tournament,"" Pollard said.
Prior to this season, Albright and Pollard agreed that 2003 would end with either a long-term contract for the coach or a change altogether at the head role. Albright's decision to resign came after discussions between Pollard and herself in which she indicated she would prefer to not wait until the end of the season to know her status--a plea the Athletics Department granted.
""At her request, we notified her [Monday] that we were not going to recommend to the Athletic Board to grant her a long-term contract,"" Pollard said. ""As a result, she decided to resign her position.""
In a written statement, Albright expressed mixed emotions about her decision.
""It is with great sadness and deep disappointment that I submit my resignation as women's coach at the University of Wisconsin,"" Albright said. She continued later, ""I have appreciated my time here and the success we have enjoyed at Wisconsin. I also appreciate the friendships and I thank you for all of your support, and more importantly, for your prayers.""
The UW players--present at their coach's address--responded to Albright's impending resignation mostly with surprise.
""I was shocked at the timing,"" sophomore forward Ebba Gebisa said. ""It was obviously a big decision that they made.""
""I didn't see anything like this happening,"" sophomore guard Shawna Nicols said.
Along with shock, gratitude dominated the players' emotions.
""I have a lot of respect for her as a Division I coach, and through the fact that she has such a strong connection to her faith,"" junior center Lello Gebisa said. ""She took a huge leap of faith in picking me up as a transfer from Duke ... that was a big commitment.""
Albright, who is the winningest coach in Wisconsin women's basketball history, is in her ninth--and only losing--season. Her string of eight consecutive winning seasons prior to this year was also a record for UW. The Badgers qualified for four NCAA tournaments during her tenure, making it to the second round twice--in 1994-'95 and 1995-'96.
