The Ten Worst Teams in Division I Women's Basketball

Most people who follow women's college basketball know about the troubles at Oregon State, the current example of a basketball program going into a tailspin.  One might believe that Oregon State is the example of how bad a program can be, but given that there are over 300 Division I institutions that play women's basketball, there are programs out there giving Athletic Directors even greater fits.

1.  Centenary:  The Wikipedia entry on the Summit League has a map of the United States with every state represented by a Summit League team colored in blue.  You know that you're not very respected where yours is the only state that was forgotten.  Centenary College is located in Shreveport, Louisiana but the state is literally not on the Summit League's (Wikipedia) map.

This is rather sad because Centenary College has been around since 1825, making it the oldest college among Summit League schools by a good fifty years.  Unfortunately, the private college is the smallest school in Division I, with a student body of just over 1,000.  This leaves the Ladies ill-equipped to play the likes of South Dakota State, and Centenary knows it.  The plan for Centenary is to leave Division I completely over the next few years and to join the smaller schools of Division III.  It can't come soon enough.  Centenary's only win in the Summit League this year was against IUPUI at the Gold Dome.  They lost to LSU 92-19 in their second game of the year and only had two wins all of last year, one against lowly McNeese State.

It isn't the case that Centenary has never been good.  They went to the Division II tournament in 1982 with a 21-10 record, but after two losing seasons Centenary canceled women's basketball despite student protests.  (When you've only got 1,000 students, you have to save money somewhere.) When the program was revived in 1999, the new Centenary Ladies endured 55 straight losses before a win.  Over the course of their Division I decade, the Ladies have never broken into double digits.

On the other hand, despite the losses Centenary's women's basketball team finished the 2009-2010 season with second best GPA among all Division III schools, where they'll soon be playing.  Hey, you know what?  Maybe - in the things that count - Centenary's women's basketball team are national champions after all.

2.  Norfolk State:  Norfolk State's tale is a much told tale at the bottom of Division I - team more suited for Division II or III gets Big Time Fever and is promoted beyond its capacity.  Norfolk State moved to Division I in 1997 and has been playing in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference ever since.

Oddly enough, the weak MEAC gave Norfolk State a chance at competing.  In 2002 as a third seed, Norfolk State won the conference tournament with a 22-8 record and came in to the NCAA tournament as a #16 seed, losing to Duke 95-48 in the opening round.  But since 2002 they've never had a record better than .500 in the conference and have had only one double-digit finish in wins, a 12-18 record in 2005.

The last few years have been particularly painful ones for the Spartans.  In 2008 the Spartans finished 5-23, which was the worst season ever for Norfolk State with four players suspended under new coach Tara Owens.  Two players would quit.  The following year was even worse than that as the Spartans finished 1-27 with a squad of mostly freshmen and sophomores and only a win against South Carolina State.  Those two seasons cost Owens her job - she supposedly asked to be reassigned - and in 2009-10 the Spartans finished 4-23 under interim coach Debra Clark.  The four victories were enough to earn Clark the head coaching job until 2013, but it will be a deep hole to dig out of.

3.  Nicholls State:  Unlike Norfolk State, Nicholls State can't claim coaching turmoil as a reason for the Colonels placement on this list - Nicholls State's record in women's basketball since 1974 is an astonishing 240 wins and 690 losses.  They have never made an NCAA tournament appearance. 

Honesty has never been the best policy for the women's squad.  Third-year coach DoBee Plaisance knows how tough this job is - her daughter Teresa Plaisance, one of the highest ranked post players in the country will be going to LSU as a freshman in 2010. Supposedly, the reason the younger Plaisance was never recruited by Nicholls State is that Coach Plaisance didn't want the matter to be a distraction but Nicholls State could have taken the risk.  Likewise, Nicholls State was hit with NCAA penalties in football, men's volleyball and basketball in 2005. Nicholls State's women's program remained untouched, but the last five years of basketball - where the Colonels have won four, seven, six, two and three games - might have convinced one otherwise.

Since the beginning of the program the Colonels have only had one season with more wins than losses - a 13-12 record way back in 1990.  The following year they finished 14-14 and haven't scented .500 since then.

It never rains but it pours - at the end of the 2010 season it was revealed the Nicholls State had the lowest academic pass rate (APR) of any Division I women's basketball team.  The NCAA hit them with a penalty of limiting their practice time.   If Nicholls State were crossing the street, they'd be run over by an ambulance.

4.  Colgate:  Since the Raiders started Patriot League play in 1990, they've been primarily known for their mediocrity, almost always losing more games than they win.

One problem with bad teams is that when they get good, their coaches get spirited away.  Beth Combs took over the program in the 2000-01 season and by 2004 the Raiders were 21-10, had won the Patriot League championship and made it to the NCAA Tournament and a respectable 77-54 opening round loss against Tennessee.  But at the end of that year, Combs was snatched away to Northwestern and you could almost watch the air leaking out of the program.

12-18 the next year.  Then 9-20.  Then 6-25.  That was the end of Kristin Hughes's job.  Pam Bass took over the program in 2007 and went 1-29 in her first season where after a win over Winston-Salem the team suffered a 28-game losing streak extending over two seasons.  But it looks like Colgate is slowly rebuilding the program, with the team finishing 10-19 last season and climbing out of the Patriot League basement.

Why is it so hard for Bass to build a winning program at Colgate?  Primarily because the Patriot League is much like the Ivy League with its emphasis on academics - Patriot League schools have only been offering academic scholarships for ten years or so.  Bass was formerly an assistant at Brown in the Ivy League, so having her hands tied is nothing she hasn't dealt with before. 

5.  Savannah State:  When you think Savannah State, you think of bad men's basketball, not women's basketball.  The 2005 men's team finished the season 0-28, the first time in 13 years a men's team in Division I had gone winless.

In 2003, the women's basketball Tigers finished the first half of a game with Florida State down 54-3.  That's not a typo; the Tigers scored three points in the first half and started the game down 41-0.  This was on the way to a 107-28 road loss and a 6-20 record in the 2003-04 season.  Since starting play at Division I in 2002, they've never had a winning season.  Some blame the fact that Savannah State moved up from Division II to Division I too quickly.

Not that the Tigers haven't come close.  They had a 12-17 record in 2007 and a 14-15 record in 2008, their best ever.  For the last decade or so, Savannah State has been trying to join the MEAC, a historical black college conference and it looks like at long last the Tigers will be extended a provisional membership.

Part of Savannah State's problem is that without a conference affiliation it makes it quite difficult for the Tigers to schedule and play the kinds of teams that might raise its profile.  This forces the Tigers to play a catch-as-catch-can schedule later in the year when conference play is in full swing, and when they play big powers looking for easy wins they get thumped.  Texas Tech only had two turnovers - just two - in a win against the Tigers in Texas this season.  This years Tigers finished 9-21…but lost 17 of their last 18 games.  At least in the MEAC, they'll get to play some of the other teams on this list regularly.

6.  San Jose State:  You might be surprised to see San Jose State on this list - the Spartans belong to the Western Athletic Conference, which while not being a major conference is at least not a pushover.  However, this is a program that has been in disarray its last few seasons and has earned its place on this list.

During the 2006-07 season, head coach Janice Richard went on leave with breast cancer.  She was replaced with interim head coach Greg Lockridge.  The Spartans started the season 0-12.  Star center Amber Jackson left the team and transferred to Indiana as she was unable to work out her clashes with Lockridge.  At the time, Jackson was the leading scorer and rebounder in the WAC, so her loss hurt the team greatly.  Lockridge was fired and assistant men's basketball coach Derrick Allen had to step up and coach the team.

That team finished 5-27.  The team lost two scholarships due to poor academics and Richard wasn't even given the dignity of a phone call when she was terminated, being informed by registered mail.  Pam DeCosta took over the program, and finished 3-28 and 2-28 in her first two seasons working with a depleted cupboard.  Last year's 6-23 finish was only marginally better.

So why is DeCosta still with the team as a coach despite an 11-79 record?  It's probably because the disarray of the men's basketball team and the tendentious debate over the relevancy of the football program both keep the spotlight off women's basketball.  The women's basketball team needs to win now, if only to give the university some extra hope in the athletics department.

7.  St. Francis (NY):  All hail the Terriers of St. Francis!  Undoubtedly, it's been a cry throughout the Northeast Conference, where the Terriers can be counted on for an easy win.  The Wikipedia article for this Brooklyn Heights Division I team doesn't even mention the women's team, which has a 276-695 record since 1973 and which finished 2-27 last season beating only Colgate (#4 on our list) at home last season and beating Sacred Heart in Connecticut.

The last winning season St. Francis had was in 1978.  The last .500 season the team had was in 1984, which means the Terriers have decades of failure to celebrate.  St. Francis shares a problem with Centenary - it's a small college with an enrollment of approximately 3,000.  But that's no real excuse, as the Northeast Conference has many colleges of similar size - Mount St. Mary's, St. Francis (PA), and Wagner also having enrollments of fewer than 3,000.

Athletically, St. Francis is left to scrounge for what's left over among high school girls New York hoops players who scatter to all parts of the continent.  However, there are some high points in Terrier history.  After losing their first 36 matches against Mount St. Mary's, the Terriers finally got a win in 2008.  (You have to get your triumphs where you can.)  Head coach Brenda Milano has gotten the program to double-digit wins in three of her seven years and she's the all-time leader at St. Francis in coaching wins (52-149), but what would a change really hurt?

8. Southern Utah:  The Thunderbirds moved into Division I with the beginning of the 1988-89 season.  Since then, there hasn't been much to enjoy in women's basketball in Cedar City.  Winning seasons have been few and far between.  Starting as an independent in Division I, Southern Utah moved to the American West Conference and had back to back 17-11 records in 1995 and 1996.  But, unfortunately, not only did the conference not have enough teams for an automatic NCAA bid, the conference folded in 1996 and Southern Utah moved to the Mid-Continent Conference (later the Summit League).

Coach Joe Hillock's teams were at least competitive, but in 2007 he left to become the director of operations at UCLA men's basketball after a 9-20 season.  Steve Hodson took over but the program took an emotional blow when Hodson died of cancer in 2008.  JR Payne took over the program in 2009.

So what puts Southern Utah on the list - what's the difference between just a sub-average team and a truly bad team?  How about their horrible road record, where the Thunderbirds are 2-55 over the past four years?  It's very hard to travel in and out of Southern Utah, and it shows up in the record for both the men's and women's squads.  The nearest city with a population of more than 50,000 is a two-hour drive away.  It might be great if you love isolation but the only flights out of Cedar City are to Salt Lake City…twice a day except on weekends.

9.  California State-Northridge:  Aside from a few high points, CSU-Northridge's women's basketball program hasn't been special since their initial 1990-91 season in Division I.  They've had some high points, like a 21-8 finish after the 1999 season, but have gone through approximately seven coaches during the time span.

The 21-8 season under coach Frozena Jerro is an interesting story.  She was taking over for head coach Michael Abraham, who took over the program in 1995-96 after a 1-26 season from the previous coach.  He managed to get the program up to 14-14 at the end of his third year…but was arrested in 1998 on campus for involvement in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.  Two athletic directors at CSU-Northridge ended up resigning over the debacle.

Despite the theoretical blemish on their recruiting - a coach sentenced to 18 months in prison for drug charges? - the program was fairly successful under Jerro, whose record for the Matadors was 48-41 making her the most successful women's basketball coach in Northridge's history.

In March 2010, head coach Staci Schulz was given the boot after a 36-109 run over five years including a 1-26 season in 2008.  The Matadors ended the season with six straight losses and Jason Flowers will be the new head coach.  Flowers played men's basketball at UC Irvine and UCLA and has strong ties to the area. 

Coaching the CSU-Northridge program will be a challenge, particularly as the budget crisis across the state of California has hit CSU-Northridge hard.  The school canceled its football program in 2001 and cut men's and women's swimming this year.  The program averages only a few hundred fans per game but the student body size of CSU-Northridge is 36,000. 

10.  Grambling:  Ah, Grambling.  Home of Eddie Robinson and Tiger football.  And the home of impressive women's basketball.  But unfortunately, that was yesterday and this is today.

Grambling has had some excellent women's basketball teams in the past.  Patricia Cage-Bibbs led the Tigers to 238 wins, and the first undefeated season by a women's team in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.  Rusty Ponton took over after Cage-Bibbs left and in his first three years he went 73-19 - but one could claims that his success was partially due to Cage-Bibbs's previous players.  After winning four SWAC women's basketball coach of the year awards, the program began to slip.  In 2004, the team finished 13-15 and had its first losing season since 1993.  Losing season after losing season followed, culminating with a 2-26 season in 2008.  (Note:  it's virtually impossible to find details about this annis horriblis anywhere on the internet, but I'm told that the Tigers lost over 20 straight games.)

Donnita Rodgers took over the program in the 2008-09 season, where she got the Tigers back up to eight wins for the year.  A 10-8 conference record got Donnita Rogers her own SWAC coach of the year award in just her second year as head coach despite a 12-15 overall record, but the Tigers still aren't back to where they can expect twenty wins a year.  The minor turnaround is definitely cause for hope - Grambling has deep roots and very motivated fans, and if they have anything to say about they won't stay on this list for very much longer.