Danielle O'Banion - Associate Head Coach - Women's Basketball Coaches

Danielle O'Banion

Title:
Associate Head Coach
Email:
djbanion@memphis.edu
Phone:
901-678-2313

The University of Memphis women’s basketball reached out and brought back a familiar face to the Tigers family Wednesday when head coach Melissa McFerrin announced the hiring of Danielle O’Banion as the program’s associate head coach.

O’Banion returns to the Bluff City after spending the last four seasons as the women’s basketball head coach at Kent State. Prior to her time in Kent, Ohio, O’Banion helped McFerrin rebuild the Tigers for four seasons from 2008-12. She served as an assistant her first two seasons, before being promoted to associate head coach following the 2009-10 campaign.

“Danielle’s return to the Tigers is a win-win for both her and Memphis,” McFerrin said. “She will assume a critical teaching and decision-making role in our basketball system, as well as other areas.

“As a former head coach, Danielle’s insight and experience will assist our player and staff development from the outset. She is a trusted colleague, positive communicator and someone that will set the bar very high for this Memphis Tigers program. Excellence is all she knows, and her impact will be felt immediately.”

O’Banion left Memphis following the 2011-12 campaign and spent the last four seasons (2012-16) as Kent State’s head coach.

At the 2016 NCAA Women’s Final Four in early April, O’Banion was presented the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award for women’s basketball. The Summitt Award is presented by USBWA annually to players, coaches, officials or administrators in women’s college basketball that have demonstrated extraordinary courage in the face of adversity.

O’Banion received the prestigious honor for her fight against cancer. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 lymphoma cancer in 2014 and went through a series of chemotherapy treatments. Six months after being diagnosed, O’Banion announced on Twitter that the cancer had gone into remission. She entered the 2015-16 season cancer free.

O’Banion’s friends attribute her remarkable recovery to her overall fitness and upbeat attitude. She did not want her illness to be a distraction to the 2014-15 Golden Flashes squad, so she did not tell the players the news until nearly three weeks after the diagnosis.

The Arlington, Va., native returns to her second “home” for a second stint with the Tigers, and the program looks for the same success it had during O’Banion’s previous tenure. She joined McFerrin’s first staff in 2008-09 and assisted in constructing a team that had one of the best three-season runs in the program’s history.

From 2009-10 through 2011-12, the Tigers posted a 66-25 overall record and a 31-17 Conference USA mark and earned three-consecutive postseason appearances. The combined 66 victories over three seasons were the most for that span of time since the program won 74 games from 1977-78 through 1979-80. The 31 league wins over three seasons were the most since Memphis had 34 conference victories from 1997-98 through 1999-2000.

In those three seasons, the Tigers posted two second-place finishes in the Conference USA regular season and advanced to the C-USA Tournament semifinal round twice. Memphis earned three-straight postseason berths (2010 Women’s Basketball Invitational; 2011, 2012 WNIT) and advanced to the 2010 WBI championship game.

“I’m ecstatic about returning to Memphis,” said O’Banion. “Memphis is a basketball town, and Melissa is a great coach. I’m glad to come back to a place that’s been really good to me.

“It’s great to be working with Melissa again. She is a great role model and a mentor to me, and it goes without saying, she is a great leader for the student-athletes she coaches.”

With O’Banion on staff, Memphis recruited and developed some of the best players to wear the Blue and Gray in recent history. She helped mentor three players (Brittany Carter, Nicole Dickson, Jasmine Lee) that earned a total of five All-Conference USA honors, one C-USA All-Freshman Team pick (Dickson, 2010) and a three-time C-USA All-Defensive Team selection (Ramses Lonlack, 2010-12). O’Banion also coached a C-USA Player of the Year (Lee, 2012), Newcomer of the Year (Carter, 2010) and Defensive Player of the Year (Lonlack, 2012).

O’Banion also played an instrumental role in recruiting the 2015-16 senior class before she departed for Kent State in the spring of 2012. That class of Asianna Fuqua-Bey, Ariel Hearn and Mooriah Rowser helped return the Tigers to the postseason with a 2016 WNIT bid. The squad won 18 overall games and 12 American Athletic Conference contests, the most since joining the new league in July of 2013.

In between her collegiate coaching stops, O’Banion spent the 2007-08 season at the prep level, coaching at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va.

Prior to her one high school season, O’Banion was an assistant coach on the Minnesota women’s basketball staff that guided the Golden Gophers program to its best five-season run in school history. From 2002-03 to 2006-07, Minnesota posted five-straight winning seasons, including three 25-win campaigns. The Golden Gophers earned postseason berths all five seasons, including four-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2003-06. Minnesota advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2003 and 2005 and made the program’s first and only Women’s Final Four in 2004.

In her first two seasons in Minneapolis, O’Banion was a member of the Golden Gophers staff that also included McFerrin, who served as the program’s associate head coach.

“The opportunity to work with Melissa again drew me back to Memphis,” O’Banion said. “It was important for me to have an opportunity to work with someone that I believed in and respected. When Melissa presented this option to me, I sprinted to Memphis.”

O’Banion got her collegiate coaching start with the Harvard Crimson in 2001-02, the season after she completed her college playing career. As an assistant, O’Banion helped guide the Crimson to a 22-6 overall record, the Ivy League title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

As a student-athlete, O’Banion was a standout for the Boston College women’s basketball program from 1997-2001. She helped lead the Eagles to the program’s first two NCAA Tournament berths in 1999 and 2000, and Boston College advanced to the tournament’s second round both seasons. O’Banion was voted a team co-captain her senior campaign.

O’Banion graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in May of 2001. She earned BIG EAST Conference Academic All-Star recognition and also participated in the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference in the summer of 2000.