Lisa Stone was introduced Monday by Director of Athletics Pat Richter as the new head women's basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin. Stone has served as the head coach at Drake University the past three years.
A Wisconsin native from nearby Oregon, Stone will receive a five-year contract with a base salary of $250,000. The fifth women's basketball coach in Wisconsin history, Stone succeeds Jane Albright who resigned Feb. 25. Stone will begin her duties on April 1.
'Our search committee was simply overwhelmed by Lisa 's vision for this program and her passionate desire to be our women's basketball coach,' Senior Associate Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said. 'Her record ' both as a coach and as a developer of outstanding student-athletes ' is first rate. Lisa is a proven winner, has impeccable integrity in the areas of academic commitment and compliance and is an enthusiastic promoter of her program. We are very pleased and proud to have Lisa Stone leading the fortunes of our women's basketball program and have every confidence that she is the perfect fit for our institution.'
Having just completed her 18th season as a head coach, Stone 's career collegiate record of 375-118 (.761) percent ranks ninth in overall winning percentage among active Division I coaches. She posted a 64-27 (.703) record in three years at Drake while leading the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16 of the 2002 NCAA Women 's Basketball Championship. With a 25-8 record, that team posted the best record and the highest national ranking ( 20th) at the school in 20 years. Drake was 23-7 in Stone 's first season before bowing out in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 2002-03 season ended with a 16-12 record.
Just as important to Stone as a winning record is having student-athletes who are accomplished in the classroom. Stone's 2000-01 Drake team ranked sixth nationally and her 2001-02 team posted a cumulative grade-point average of 3.298 which ranked 15th nationally in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association 's Academic Top 25. Three student-athletes last year, and two this year, earned Missouri Valley Conference scholar-athlete honors.
Stone was recognized for her coaching success last summer with an invitation to join Team USA as an assistant coach to Marsha Sharp of Texas. Team USA won the gold medal at the 2002 World Championships for Young Women Qualifying Tournament in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.
Stone said of her appointment, 'I'm extremely thrilled to be at Wisconsin. It's a dream come true for me to be able to come home and bring my family home. I have bled red and have had a desire to be at Wisconsin my entire life. I'm excited to be part of the Big Ten and to be able to lead this team of talented student-athletes. We'll hit the ground running and take this program as far as it can go.'
Prior to coming to Drake, Stone built one of the top NCAA Division III programs in the nation at UW-Eau Claire. The five-time WIAC coach of the year took a program that had only one winning season in its history, and guided the squads to 11, 20-win seasons and 11 appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament, while compiling a 277-59 (.824) record in her 12 seasons.
In each of Stone's last nine seasons, the Blugolds won at least 22 games and never lost more than six. UW-Eau Claire completed its best ever season in 1999 '2000 with a 28-1 record, winning its first 28 games before falling in the Division III NCAA Sweet 16 to the eventual national champion.
Stone began her coaching career at Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, Iowa) where she had a 34-32 record in three years as head coach from 1985-88. She led the Rams to three consecutive Southern Division titles in the Midwest Conference.
As a player, the then-Lisa Anderson earned four letters each in tennis, basketball, and track during her high school career. She led the Class A Oregon Panthers to the Wisconsin state basketball tournament in 1979 and 1980, earning first team all-state honors as a senior, and second team recognition as a junior.
She played her collegiate ball at the University of Iowa from 1980-84, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1984. She added a master's degree in athletic administration from Iowa in 1986. At Iowa, Stone played for one of the country's outstanding coaches in C. Vivian Stringer. She was a four-year standout at point guard, scoring 1,129 points which ranks 14th in Iowa history. She is tied for sixth on the school's career steals chart with 177, and ranks seventh in career assists (322) and 23rd in career rebounds (331). She also owns a share of the Hawkeye record for steals in a game (nine). Three times Stone served as Iowa's captain and twice was the Hawkeyes' MVP. She won the 1984 Big Ten Medal of Honor recognizing her as the one of the top scholar-athletes in the conference.
Stone and her husband Ed, a certified public accountant, are the parents of Allison (10) and Tyler (7).
