Katie Meier, Miami’s Coach For The Last 19 Seasons, Announces Her Retirement – News18

CORAL GABLES, Fla.: Katie Meier, who led Miami to 10 NCAA tournaments and guided the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight final season, introduced her retirement from teaching on Thursday.

Meier, the 2011 Associated Press nationwide coach of the yr who had 4 years remaining on her contract with the Hurricanes, will stay with the college as a particular adviser and ambassador for the athletic division. She coached at Miami for 19 seasons, going 362-208 in that span.

Her determination to retire — and it was her determination to maneuver into a brand new position, an concept that she dropped at the college herself — means Miami could have a brand new coach for less than the second time in 36 years subsequent season. Ferne Labati coached at Miami for 17 seasons earlier than Meier was employed in 2005, and now the college will embark on a nationwide seek for a alternative.

“Nineteen years ago, I was offered my dream job to be the head coach of the University of Miami, and while I have absolutely loved living that dream, it is with a heart full of pride and gratitude that I announce my retirement from coaching,” Meier stated. “Miami is an incredibly special place, and my journey here has been an honor and a privilege. Today is a day to celebrate and reflect on the amazing success that was achieved through collaboration with outstanding people.”

Meier spent 23 seasons as a head coach, the primary 4 at Charlotte and the remainder at Miami.

Among the duties which can be envisioned in her new position: additional assist with fundraising for ladies’s packages, serving as a mentor and liaising with alumni. She has lengthy been concerned with fundraising at Miami, even making sizable donations herself and difficult others in the neighborhood to observe her lead to assist ladies’s athletes on the college.

“Her list of accomplishments speaks for itself, but her legacy extends far beyond the court,” athletic director Dan Radakovich stated. “She has been an incredible ambassador not only for Miami basketball but for the sport of women’s basketball and for the University of Miami. We are excited to continue working with Katie as a member of the Hurricanes family.”

Meier’s legacy is powerful as each a participant and a coach. Consider simply her Atlantic Coast Conference accolades: rookie of the yr at Duke in 1986, first-crew All-ACC as a participant in 1990, a member of the ACC’s fiftieth anniversary crew, an ACC legend choice in 2006 and its ladies’s coach of the yr in 2011.

She additionally went into Duke’s Hall of Honor in 2002, was named USA Basketball’s coach of the yr in 2013 and have become a part of Miami’s Hall of Fame in 2017.

“Learning about who she is, the competitor she is, you can see why Miami was so attractive to us,” former Miami guard Hanna Cavinder stated in the course of the crew’s run to the Elite Eight final season.

Under Meier, Miami made 91 appearances within the AP Top 25. As a No. 9 seed, the Hurricanes pulled off three upset wins in final season’s NCAA event — topping Oklahoma State, high-seeded Indiana after which Villanova, earlier than falling to eventual nationwide champion LSU within the regional ultimate. It was the second consecutive season the place Miami was ousted by the eventual NCAA titlist; South Carolina beat the Hurricanes within the second spherical of the 2022 tourney.

Meier typically spoke about her upbringing and the way that formed her as a coach.

She by no means met her father; Gerry Meier, who performed for Ray Meyer at DePaul, died in a aircraft crash 4 months earlier than she was born. Meier’s mom ultimately married a widowed man and every introduced 4 youngsters into what she has referred to as “a Brady Bunch family.”

There was private tragedy alongside the way in which as nicely. Meier has worn a pin with “43″ to each recreation for the final decade as a tribute to the jersey variety of her nephew Philip Lutzenkirchen, a good finish at Auburn who died in June 2014 in a automobile crash by which he was a passenger however not sporting a seat belt. The household began the Lutzie 43 Foundation in his reminiscence, making an attempt to encourage folks to make higher choices as drivers and associates.

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AP March Madness protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll

(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)