NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 Vanderbilt women\u2019s basketball coach Shea Ralph agreed to a contract extension following her fifth and best season yet in leading the Commodores to the Sweet 16 and earning AP Coach of the Year honors.<\/p>\n
Athletic director Candice Storey Lee announced the extension. Lee noted Ralph was hired just after the university launched the Vandy United program to renovate athletic facilities as part of a commitment to compete at the highest levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has delivered on that vision and is the right leader to keep elevating our women\u2019s basketball program while inspiring our broader community as we set the standard for women\u2019s athletics,\u201d Lee said. \u201cHer well-deserved recognition only reinforces what we see every day \u2014 she makes teams better, empowers women and brings people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Terms of Ralph\u2019s extension were not announced by the school, which is a private university.<\/p>\n
Ralph led a team that returned only one starter to the most successful season in school history.<\/p>\n
Vanderbilt went 29-5, with 13 of those wins coming in the regular season against a rugged Southeastern Conference schedule. The Commodores finished tied for second in the conference, which matched the best finish in program history. They earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n
Average attendance at Memorial Gym also went up nearly 100% this season compared to the last full season before Ralph was hired. She has taken Vanderbilt to three straight NCAA Tournaments, ending the program\u2019s 10-year drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cShea Ralph exemplifies our commitment across the university to attract the most talented people who fit our culture and put them in an environment where they can succeed,\u201d Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said.<\/p>\n
Ralph recruited All-American Mikayla Blakes, who was the Southeastern Conference player of the year, and SEC freshman of the year Aubrey Galvan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I arrived in Nashville, I said it felt like it was only the beginning of something incredible,\u201d Ralph said. \u201cAnd as much growth as we\u2019ve had, the best part of being at Vanderbilt is I still feel that way every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 Vanderbilt women\u2019s basketball coach Shea Ralph agreed to a contract extension following her fifth and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-600094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}