COACHING STAFF
2008-09 Zag Basketball
Kelly
Graves
BULLDOGS
27
2008-09 Zag
g Basketball
Kelly Graves (1-14-63) has transformed Gonzaga University women’s basketball in his eight year at
the helm of the program.
Graves has guided the Bulldogs
to four straight WCC regular-season
titles (2005-08) and two straight
post-season apperances.
The Zags won their fourth WCC
title in 2008 after finishing the season with an impressive 13-1 finish. Gonzaga swept the WCC annualhonors as sophomore Heather
Bowman was named WCC Player
of the Year, junior Jami (Bjorklund)
Schaefer was tabbed for Defensive Player of the Year honors and
freshman Courtney Vandersloot
was named as the conference’s top
newcomer. Graves earned WCC
Coach of the Year recognition for
the fourth time in his career as the
Zags became the first conference
program to sweep the individual
awards since U.S. International did
in 1985-86, the league’s inaugural season of women’s basketball.
The Bulldogs had two players earn
first-team All-WCC honors for the
fifth straight season, giving Graves
12 first-team honorees in his eight
years on the GU bench.
Gonzaga was one game away
from its second NCAA apperance
in 2008, but fell in the WCC Championship game to host University of
San Diego. The Bulldogs, instead,
earned a bid to the WNIT; the
school’s third bid in five years. The
Zags fell in the second round of the
WNIT to the University of Colorado and ended their 2008 campaign
with a strong 25-9 record.
Gonzaga won its third straight
WCC regular-season title with a
13-1 finish in 2007. The Bulldogs
went on to win their first-ever
28
Kelly Graves
Head Coach
9th Season at Gonzaga
(University of New Mexico, 1988)
211-128 career record
ugral appearance.
Graves was named WCC CoCoach of the Year after leading the
Bulldogs to a 24-10 record and a
first-round NCAA Tournament apperance. Stephanie Hawk earned
WCC Co-Player of the Year honors,
while freshman Heather Bowman
was tabbed as the WCC’s Newcomer of the Year.
Gonzaga ranked among the top
teams in the West Coast Conference during the 2006 campaign as
the Bulldogs finished 11-3 to tie for
the WCC regular-season championship. It was the seventh time a team
had repeated as conference champions in the 20-year history of WCC
women’s play.
WCC Tournament Championship
and earned an automatic bid to the
NCCA Tournament; the Zags ina-
GONZAGA
In 2005, Gonzaga became
only the second school in WCC
history to run the table in league
play as the Bulldogs finished
the 2005 season 14-0, joining
only the 1997 University of
Portland Pilots as undefeated
regular-season champions in the
20-year history of the league.
Graves was also part of that run
as an assistant coach at Portland.
Along the way Gonzaga ran off
a nation-leading 23-game win
streak and cracked both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA
Today Top 25 polls reaching as
high as No. 23.
Graves earned his second
WCC Coach of the Year honor
and was named the WBCA Region VIII Coach of the Year as
Gonzaga finished the season
28-4 and advanced to the second round of the Women’s NIT,
the second-straight post-season
appearance for Gonzaga under
Graves.
The Bulldogs also had several firsts in 2005 under Graves’
watchful eye as Shannon
Mathews became the first Gonzaga player to earn WCC Player
of the Year honors and the first
to earn All-America honors with
an honorable mention nod from
the Associated Press.
Graves was named the fourth
head coach in the NCAA Division I history of the program on
April 11, 2000, and it’s no surprise where he’s taken the program in eight seasons.
The turnaround began in
2002 when the Bulldogs posted
an 11-18 record, the first time
the club had hit double digits in
the win column since 1998.
That success continued in
2003 as Gonzaga posted a winning record for the first time
since 1994 when the Bulldogs
advanced to the WNIT. Gonzaga posted 18 wins, at the time
the second highest total in the
school’s NCAA Division I history, and received a bye to the
WCC Tournament semifinals.
Kelly Graves
Post-Season Apperances
West Coast Conference
Coaching Records
Portland (NCAA)
Portland (NCAA)
Portland (NCAA)
Portland (NCAA)
Saint Mary’s (NCAA)
Saint Mary’s (WNIT)
Gonzaga (WNIT)
Gonzaga (WNIT)
Gonzaga (NCAA)
Gonzaga (WNIT)
Birthdate: January 14, 1963
Birthplace: Salt Lake City, UT
High School: Dixie High, Saint George, UT, 1981
College: Ricks College, Rexburg, ID, 1986
University of New Mexico, 1988
(B.S. Communications)
Collegiate Honors
Two-time All-Scenic West First Team 1985-86
Western Athletic Conference All-Academic 1987
Coaching Experience:
1989 - Men’s Graduate Assistant
University of New Mexico
1990-92 - Head Women’s Coach
Big Bend Community College
1993-97 - Assistant Women’s Coach
University of Portland
1998-00 - Head Women’s Coach
Saint Mary’s College
April 11, 2000 - Head Women’s Coach
Gonzaga University
Wife: Mary (Winter) Graves
Children: Maxwell Joseph (1995)
Jackson Obde (1997)
William Kelly (2000)
Graves Timeline
Kelly Graves
Paul Thomas
Julie Rousseau
Cindy Fisher
Julie Wilhoit
Jim Sollars
Tanya Haave
102-52
14-14
26-30
21-21
80-88
131-163
8-20
.662
.500
.464
.500
.476
.445
.286
April 11, 2000 - Became Gonzaga’s Head Coach
Nov. 18, 2000 - Wins First Game of Zag Tenure
11 Wins in 2002 - Most Wins Since 1998
2002 - Wins two WCC Games
18 Wins in 2003 - Most Wins Since 1994
Biggest Turnaround in WCC History
2003 - Wins Nine WCC Games
2004 - 10 WCC Wins - Most Wins Since 1995
2004 - WCC Tournament Runner-Up
2004 - Earned A Bid To The WNIT
2005 - Wins School Record 28 Games
2007 - Wins Third-Straight WCC Regular-Season Championship
2007 - Earned First Bid to NCAA Tournament
2008 - Wins Fourth-Straight WCC Regular-Season
Title; Earns WNIT Bid
* Graves was an assistant coach at
Portland from 1993-97.
BULLDOGS
29
2008-09 Zag Basketball
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
2004
2005
2007
2008
The Graves File
2008-09 Zag
g Basketball
For the efforts of his team Graves
was named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year for the first
time in his six years as a head coach
in the league. The Bulldogs also had
one player named to the WCC first
team and two additional players
earn honorable mention All-WCC
honors.
In 2004, Gonzaga continued to
make improvements under Graves
as the team again posted 18 wins
and a second-place WCC finish.
The Bulldogs advanced to their
second WCC Tournament championship game and were awarded a
bid to the Women’s NIT after falling to Loyola Marymount University, 61-58, in the WCC title game.
Dating back to his years as an assistant coach at Portland, Graves
has now coached 27 All-West Coast
Conference performers, seven WCC
Players of the Year, five All-Americans, two WCC Defender’s of the
Year, two WCC Newcomer’s of the
Year and 23 WCC All-Tournament
selections.
And Graves has done it all by
making the Spokane area one of his
recruiting priorities.
“I have loved recruiting the
Spokane area and believe I’ve had
success in recruiting the area because I respect the coaches in the
area. Those young ladies are well
coached and work hard,” Graves
said.
No stranger to the area, Graves
started his coaching career in nearby Moses Lake as the head coach of
Big Bend Community College. In
three seasons at the school, Graves
turned a struggling program with
four wins his first season into a
Northwest Athletic Association of
Community Colleges power his last
season with 23 wins.
From Big Bend, Graves earned
his first taste of West Coast Conference basketball as an assistant
at the University of Portland under
head coach Jim Sollars. During his
tenure at Portland, Graves recruited many of the players that helped
the Pilots post a 102-46 record
and 51-19 WCC mark in five seasons. The Pilots made four straight
NCAA Tournament appearances
from 1994-97 and boasted three
straight WCC Players of the Year
from 1995-97.
In 1998 Graves moved south in
the WCC to guide the program at
Saint Mary’s College. He made an
immediate impact with the Gaels,
producing a 66-26 record in three
seasons with WCC Tournament
championship game appearances
his first two seasons. In his first season at the helm he guided SMC to a
20-9 record, the first 20-win season
at the school since the 1990-91 season.
Graves followed up that success
with a 26-7 mark and two firsts for
the Gaels program. The first-ever
WCC Tournament championship
and first-ever NCAA Tournament
berth, a 61-57 setback to Notre
Dame. His final Saint Mary’s squad
finished with a 20-10 mark that included a first-round WNIT victory
over Hawai’i and a second-round
loss to Long Beach State.
Graves is an active member of
the WBCA (Women’s Basketball
Coaches Association) and has previously served on the voting panel
for the ESPN/USA Today Top 25
poll. He works with the WBCA’s
philanthropy arm.
Graves and his wife Mary have
three sons - Maxwell Joseph (1995)
Jackson Obde (1997) and William
Kelly (2000).
Kelly Graves Collegiate Coaching Record
Year
1989-90
1990-91
1991-92
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
Totals
Gonzaga
30
School
Big Bend CC
Big Bend CC
Big Bend CC
Saint Mary’s College
Saint Mary’s College
Saint Mary’s College
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
11 Years (Division I)
8 Years
Rec.
4-22
18-8
23-10
20-9
26-7
20-10
5-23
11-18
18-12
18-12
28-4
16-14
24-10
25-9
211-128
145-102
Pct.
.154
.692
.670
.690
.788
.667
.178
.379
.600
.600
.875
.533
.706
.735
.622
.587
Conf.
2-10
5-7
9-3
9-5
10-4
11-3
0-14
2-12
9-5
10-4
14-0
11-3
13-1
13-1
102-52
72-40
Pct.
.167
.417
.750
.643
.714
.786
.000
.143
.642
.714
1.000
.785
.929
.929
.662
.643
Conf. Fin.
6th
5th
2nd
T 3rd
3rd
2nd
8th
8th
T 2nd
T 2nd
1st
T1st
1st
1st
-------
Other
--------District Championship
WCC Tourney Runner-Up
NCAA First Round
WNIT Second Round
--------WCC Tourney Semifinals
WNIT First Round
WNIT Second Round
WCC Regular-Season Champs
NCAA First Round
WNIT Second Round
6 Post-Season Berths
2 NCAA Apperance
4 WNIT Appearances
GONZAGA
Jodie Kaczor Berry enters her
sixth year as a member of the Gonzaga women’s basketball staff and
fourth year as an assistant coach. She
served as the coordinator of women’s
basketball operations for the Gonzaga Bulldogs for two seasons prior to
being promoted to an assistant coach
role in the summer of 2005.
Kaczor Berry was promoted to
the Zag top assistant in the summer
of 2008 after Jennifer Mountain left
to become the head coach at Santa
Clara University.
Kaczor Berry brings a solid basketball background to GU after earning four varsity letters at Western
Washington University. She finished
her career as WWU’s career leader in
three-pointers (210) and free throw
percentage (81.9) and earned AllGreat Northwest Athletic Conference
honors in 2001 and 2002.
Western Washington posted a
95-24 record during Kaczor Berry’s
four-year career and four trips to the
NCAA Division II Tournament with
a final four appearance in 2000.
Kaczor Berry was married to Eric
Berry on July 16, 2005.
Jodie Kaczor Berry
Assistant Coach
6th Season at Gonzaga
(Western Washington University,
2003)
The Kaczor Berry
File
Birthdate: March 13, 1980
Birthplace: Seattle, Wash.
High School: Federal Way
College: Western Washington University, 2003
2008-09 Zag Basketball
Coaching Experience
2002-03 - Student Assistant Coach
Western Washington University
2003-05 - Coordinator of Basketball Operations
Gonzaga University
2005-present - Assistant Women’s Coach
Gonzaga University
Playing Honors
2001 - All Great Northwest Athletic Conf.
2002 - All Great Northwest Athletic Conf.
BULLDOGS
31
Lisa Mispley Fortier enters her
second year as an assistant coach on
the Bulldogs staff in 2008-09 and
fourth year overall. Mispley Fortier
is no stranger to the Zags program
having served as the coordinator of
basketball operations at Gonzaga
for two seasons from 2004-06. She
returned to Gonzaga after a season
as an assistant coach at the University of Northern Colorado; members of the Big Sky Conference.
Mispley Fortier played collegiate basketball at both Cal State
Monterey Bay and Butte (Calif.)
Community College. At CSUMB,
she earned honorable mention All
Cal-Pac Conference honors as
Lisa Mispley Fortier
Assistant Coach
4th Season at Gonzaga
(Cal State Monterery Bay, 2004)
a junior and was an NAIA Academic All-American in 2003. Mispley Fortier was named the 2004
CSUMB Female Scholar Athlete
of the Year.
She graduated Magna Cum
Laude from CSUMB in 2004 with
a bachelor’s degree in human communications.
Mispley Fortier earned her Master’s degree in Sport and Athletic
Administraion from Gonzaga in
2004.
Mispley Fortier is married to
Craig Fortier, an assistant men’s
basketball coach at Whitworth
University.
The Mispley Fortier
File
2008-09 Zag
g Basketball
Birthdate: April 5, 1981
Birthplace: Sacramento, Calif.
High School: Placer
College: Cal State, Monterery Bay, 2004
Coaching Experience
2004-06 - Coordinator of Basketball Operations
Gonzaga University
2006-07 - Assistant Women’s Coach
University of Northern Colorado
2007-present - Assistant Women’s Coach
Gonzaga University
Playing Honors
2003 - All Cal-Pac Conference Honorable Mention
2003 - Academic All-American
32
GONZAGA
Gonzaga University women’s
basketball head coach Kelly Graves
announced the hiring of Michelle
Elliott as an assistant on the Zag’s
coaching staff in June of 2008. Elliott is no stranger to the Bulldog’s
program having just completed a
two-year playing stint. Elliott fills a
void in the Gonzaga coaching staff
left by Jennifer Mountain who took
over as head coach at Santa Clara
University.
Elliott joined the Bulldogs for
the 2006-07 season from Columbia Basin College in her hometown
of Pasco, Wash., after two seasons
at San Diego State University. She
eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau for
her career, amassing 1,215 points. At
Michelle Elliott
Assistant Coach
1st Season at Gonzaga
(Gonzaga University, 2008)
Gonzaga, Elliott scored 626 points,
brought down 222 rebounds, dished
out 126 assists and made 53 steals.
She closed out her Zag career draining 103 three-pointers to stand seventh on the GU career record book
for three-pointers made. Elliott also
hit nine three-pointers in a single
contest during her senior season to
break a 14-year-old Bulldog record
held by Ivy Safranski.
Elliott was a two-time West Coast
Conference winter all-academic
honoree and was named the Most Inspirational Player by her teammates
both years with Gonzaga.
The Elliott File
Birthdate: Sept. 21, 1984
Birthplace: Pasco, Wash.
High School: Pasco
College: Gonzaga University, 2008
2008-09 Zag Basketball
Coaching Experience
2008-present - Assistant Women’s Coach
Gonzaga University
Playing Honors
2004 - All-MWC Third Team
2005 - ALL-MWC Honorable Mention
2007 - WCC All-Academic
2008 - WCC All-Academic
BULLDOGS
33
2008-09 Zag
g Basketball
BULLDOG SUPPORT
SUPPORT STAFF
Cara Cocchiarella
Rian Oliver
Director of Basketball
Operations
Cara Cocchiarella is in her first
year as the director of women’s
basketball operations at Gonzaga
University. Cocchiarella comes to
Gonzaga after having spent the last
six years as the head girl’s basketball coach at Loyola Sacred Heart
High School in Missoula, Mont.
Cocchiarella
complied
a
132-23 overall record as the head coach
h at Loyola
l S
Sacred
d Heart.
She led Sacred Heart to the State Championship in 2006 and
Divisional Championship in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. For her
efforts, Cocchiarella was named Coach of the Year in 2006.
Cocchiarella was a member of the women’s basketball team
at the University of Montana from 1998-99. She earned her B.A.
in Spanish and health and human performance from Montana in
2002. She also earned a M.S. in health and human performance
from Montana in 2008.
Basketball Academic Coordinator
Peter Clark
Strength and Conditioning
g
Coach
Assistant Athletic Trainer
Peter Clark is in his first year
as the women’s basketball athletic
trainer at Gonzaga University.
Clark comes to the Bulldogs
from Whitworth College where
he received his B.A. in athletic
training as well as a B.A. in health,
fitness and physical education. The
local product of Mead High School
worked with the baseball and
men’s basketball team as a primary athletic training student for
the Pirates. He was also an athletic training student for the U.S.
Figure Skating Championship in Spokane in 2007.
Along with women’s basketball, his primary sport responsibilities at Gonzaga will be men’s tennis and cross country and
track.
Gabe Henry
Administrative Assitant
Rian Oliver is in her sixth year on
n
rd
the Gonzaga athletics staff, and third
ryear as the basketball academic coordinator.
rk
A former undergraduate work
tstudy for the Gonzaga men’s basketd
ball team from 1997-00, Oliver earned
aboth a bachelor of business administrah
tion and a bachelor of arts in Spanish
n
in 2000. After spending three years in
f.,
the retail industry in San Diego, Calif.,
n
Oliver returned to her alma mater in
2003 as the administrative assistant for men’s basketball before being
promoted to her current position in the summer of 2006. Oliver earned
her master’s degree from Gonzaga in 2006.
A native of Helena, Mont., Oliver and her husband Wes were
married in 2001. Wes joined the University Relations staff at Gonzaga
in 2005. The couple, who has two dogs, Wrigley and Rawlings, welcomed their first son Griffin in 2008.
Mike Nilson
Mike Nilson joined the Gonzagaa
University athletic department as a
strength and conditioning coach in thee
summer of 2003.
o
But the native of Seattle is no
rt
stranger to the Bulldogs. He was part
sof the foundation for the most successy,
ful run in men’s basketball history,
0
playing for the Bulldogs from 1997-00
cas a walk-on out of Seattle’s Shorecrest High.
His collegiate career came to a sudden end his senior season
when he ruptured his right Achilles tendon during the Bulldogs’ West
Coast Conference Tournament opener against Saint Mary’s College.
Gonzaga went on to win the WCC Tournament and advance to the
NCAA Sweet 16 with Nilson providing emotional leadership and support despite not being able to don a uniform.
He started all 30 games his senior season up to the time of his
injury and was named the WCC Defender of the Year. He played 109
ggames in his career with 34 starts and had 112 career steals.
Nilson is married to the former Rhiannon Fabian who was a
ccheerleader for the Bulldogs. The couple, who were married in July of
22000, welcomed son Carter Blue in 2007.
Gabe Henry is in his second
year as a volunteer with the women’s
basketball staff. Henry will help
in the basketball office with tape
exchange and also be the Zag video
coordinator.
34
GONZAGA