At Miami, Katie Meier now stands alone.
Meier became the winningest coach in Hurricanes basketball history — men's or women's — on Tuesday, with her team defeating Jackson State 72-67 in the season opener for both teams.
Meier has 304 wins at Miami. That's one more than Ferne Labati, her predecessor overseeing the women's program.
“I've said it before: To have the most anything in school history as a coach, then you've got the most support and somebody's behind the scenes when you're not in the room making big-time decisions to keep you around or to give you what you think you need to sustain a program,” Meier said. “Miami has done that for me.”
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Meier and Labati have almost identical records; Meier is 304-198 with the Hurricanes, while Labati was 303-195 at Miami.
“I looked up right before the game and saw Coach Ferne Labati in the stands and I got a little bit emotional,” Meier said. “It was just really amazing that she made that gesture to come.”
They are two of four coaches in school history with at least 200 wins in basketball, joining former men's coach Bruce Hale (220) and current men's coach Jim Larrañaga, who had exactly 200 going into Miami's season opener later Tuesday against Canisius.
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Meier is beginning her 17th season at Miami. The former standout player at Duke — and the Atlantic Coast Conference's rookie of the year in 1986 — has taken the Hurricanes to the NCAA Tournament eight times and made three other trips to the women's NIT.
She's a member of Duke's Hall of Honor and Miami's athletic Hall of Fame. She was the 2013 USA Basketball coach of the year and won national coach-of-the-year honors from The Associated Press for the 2010-11 season.
“No words can ever truly capture all that Katie Meier has meant to our student-athletes, our women’s basketball program and our university," athletic director Blake James said. “She is a winner in every sense of the word and I am honored to work alongside of her."
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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
