Florida Gulf Coast Eagles women's basketball
| Florida Gulf Coast Eagles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
 |
|||
| University | Florida Gulf Coast University | ||
| First season | 2002–03 | ||
| Conference | Atlantic Sun | ||
| Location | Fort Myers, FL | ||
| Head coach | Karl Smesko (12th year) | ||
| Arena |
Alico Arena (Capacity: 4,500) |
||
| Nickname | Eagles | ||
| Colors | Cobalt Blue and Emerald Green |
||
| Uniforms | |||
|
|||
| NCAA Tournament runner-up | |||
| 2007* | |||
| NCAA Tournament Final Four | |||
| 2007* | |||
| NCAA Tournament Elite Eight | |||
| 2007* | |||
| NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen | |||
| 2006*, 2007* | |||
| NCAA Tournament Round of 32 | |||
| 2006*, 2007* | |||
| NCAA Tournament appearances | |||
| 2006*, 2007*, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 *at Division II level |
|||
| Conference tournament champions | |||
| 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 | |||
The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles women's basketball team is the women's basketball team that represents Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
In 2002, Florida Gulf Coast became an independent member of NCAA Division II. Florida Gulf Coast also started its men's basketball team, with Dave Balza as head coach from the inaugural 2002–03 to the 2010–11 season. In 2006, Florida Gulf Coast applied for NCAA Division I status and became a transitory Division I effective in the 2007–08 season. Florida Gulf Coast became a full Division I member on August 11, 2011.
The university was first established in 1991, but did not complete start classes until 1997. The athletic programs began as members of the NAIA. The school hired Karl Smesko while the school was still in the NAIA, but his first year coincided with the transfer to NCAA Division II in 2002. In his first year, the basketball facilities were not yet completed at the beginning of the season, so players began individual workouts on outdoor courts. His first office was in a trailer. Despite having no experience as a team, the Eagles opened their season against Ohio Dominican and won. Then they won their next game, and the next, and continued winning until they faced St. Francis of Indiana, who beat the Eagles to give them their first loss. That would be the last loss of the season, as they went on to a thirty win season, with a 30–1 record.
The team continued to pile up winning records, and went on to post a 29–2 record in and earn an invitation to the DII post-season tournament in 2006. The team would advance as far as the Regional semi-final. After reaching a national DII ranking of eleven, the team faced ninth ranked Rollins, and won 48–46. The team then faced seventh ranked Delta State who ended the Eagles season with a 57–48 win.
FGCU then joined the Atlantic Sun Conference, although they would be provisional members until 2011. The finished in second place in the conference in both 2008, 2009 and 2010. The team earned invitations to the post-season WNIT tournament, advancing to the second round in 2008 and 2009. In 2011, the team would go 28–4 overall, with a 17–3 record in conference. That record was the best in conference, resulting in the first regular season conference title for the Eagles. The team would not become a full member of the conference until August of that year, so was not part of the conference post-season tournament. They did participate in the 2011 WNIT, beating Drexel in the first round before losing to Florida in the second round.
...
Wikipedia