Kelly Packard’s whirlwind first season as Ball State’s women’s basketball coach took another remarkable turn Monday.
The former Anderson University star was named the 2009 Maggie Dixon Division I Rookie Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Dixon coached Army to the 2006 Patriot League title in her first year at the school. The Black Knights made their first NCAA Tournament appearance that season, and Dixon was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year.
Her brother, Jamie, coaches the men’s basketball team at Pittsburgh. And they became the first brother-sister coaching duo to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in the same season.
On April 6, 2006, just weeks after Army’s 102-54 first-round loss to Tennessee, Dixon died of heart complications. She was 28.
Although Packard was never fortunate enough to meet Dixon, she has read about the former Army coach. And she’s honored to win an award in Dixon’s name.
“It’s humbling from the standpoint of the person they named the award after,” Packard said. “It’s very humbling.”
Army went 20-11 during Dixon’s only season at the school and became a darling of the national media. But basketball was only part of Dixon’s life, and Packard said she’s just as impressed by what she’s heard and read about the coach off the court.
“The thing that stands out to me, more than anything else, is this award speaks about her as a leader of women,” Packard said. “She had an infectious personality. She was very vibrant and exciting. All those things are what really matter to me.”
Packard led Ball State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance this month. The Cardinals upset two-time defending national champion Tennessee 71-55 in the first round before bowing out with a loss to fourth-seeded Iowa State.
Ball State finished the season 26-9, won its third straight Mid-American Conference West Division championship and won the MAC Tournament for the first time.
“We would like to honor Kelly Packard with this year’s Maggie Dixon award as she has elevated Ball State University to new levels in just her first year,” WBCA CEO Beth Bass said in a press release. “We had a terrific pool of first-year head coaches, but Kelly Packard stood out above the rest, and we wish her much success at Ball State in the future.”
The Cardinals’ upset of Tennessee became the story of the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend, and Packard has enjoyed the team’s meteoric rise.
She said the magnitude of the season hasn’t sunk in yet, but she has paused to appreciate each moment.
“I’m taking each day as it comes,” Packard said. “And I take a moment each day to enjoy the opportunity I have to coach here.”
Packard will be honored at the Russell Athletic/WBCA National Coach of the Year luncheon next Monday in St. Louis during the NCAA Women’s Final Four.
—From the Herald Bulletin in Anderson. Photos by Story republished with permission.
Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,800 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 65 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.
