Anne DONOVAN

Date of birth: 01/11/1961

Place of birth: Ridgewood

Team 2007-08: Seattle Storm (USA-WNBA).

Career: Old Dominion University (USA-NCAA, 1989-95), East Carolina University (USA-NCAA, 1995-97), Philadelphia Rage (USA-ABL, 1997-98),
Indiana Fever (USA-WNBA, 2000), Charlotte Sting (USA-WNBA, 2001), Seattle Storm (USA-WNBA, assistant, 2002), Seattle Storm (USA-WNBA, 2003-08).

With her selection as the 2008 U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team head coach, Anne Donovan now lists on five different Olympic rosters. A three-time Olympian as an athlete (1980-DNC, 1984-gold, 1988-gold), Donovan served as an assistant to the 2004 USA team that captured gold in Athens. Also no stranger to the FIBA World Championship, Donovan was an assistant coach for the 1998 and 2002 gold medal winning USA Basketball squads. She played on the 1986 USA World Championship Team that toppled the USSR 108-88 in Moscow for the gold medal and the 1983 USA World Championship Team that took silver after losing a close 84-82 battle to the Soviet Union in the gold medal game and was the head coach for the USA squad at the ’06 Worlds.
Included in her coaching resume are nine years as a professional head coach, highlighted by the 2004 WNBA crown with the Seattle Storm, and nine in the college ranks.
A member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Donovan owns a USA Basketball head coaching record of 46-6 and an assistant coaching record of 75-4 for an overall slate of 121-10 since taking on her first USA coaching role in 1997.
Donovan has been a player on a remarkable 11 USA Basketball teams and is one of the most decorated players in USA Basketball history. In addition to the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympic teams and the 1983 and 1986 World Championship teams, Donovan also played on the 1983 and 1987 Pan American Games squads that earned golds, the silver medal winning 1981 World University Games team, as well as the gold medal 1978 and 1979 U.S. Olympic Festival East teams. She started her USA Basketball career as a 15-year-old in 1977 on the inaugural USA R. William Jones Cup Team. All told, of a possible 10 medals, she captured seven golds and two silvers as a player, posting a 52-7 record for an 88.1 winning percentage. Having served as an athlete representative on USA Basketball's Executive Committee and chair of the USA Basketball Women's Select Team Committee during the 1996-2000 quadrennium, Donovan has been involved in the USA Basketball organization since 1977 as a player, coach and committee member.
Also one of the most accomplished players in collegiate women's basketball, Donovan helped guide Old Dominion to a sterling 37-1 record and the AIAW national title as a freshman in 1980. She then went on to lead ODU to an AIAW third place finish in 1981 and to the NCAA Final Four in 1983.
Throughout Donovan's four-year college playing career, Old Dominion compiled a 116-20 record (.853), and she was named the Naismith and Champion Player of the Year in 1983 as well as an All-American in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
Her accomplishments on the hardwood are still being recognized. In 2004 Donovan was named by the Sun Belt Conference as its All-Time Women’s Basketball Player. Additionally, Donovan is a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, ODU Sports Hall of Fame and the CoSIDA Academic All-American Hall of Fame.
After college, Donovan spent five seasons playing professionally in Shizuoka, Japan (1983-84 to 1987-88) and one season in Modena, Italy (1988-89), before returning to Old Dominion as an assistant coach for six seasons (1989-90 to 1994-95). With Donovan on the coaching staff, ODU earned four CAA conference titles (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995), five NCAA tournament berths and a record of 115-62 (.650).