- Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Georgia has hired Katie Abrahamson-Henderson as its new women’s basketball coach, the school announced Saturday.
Abrahamson-Henderson, who led UCF to the American Athletic Conference championship and the second round of the NCAA tournament this season, is a former Georgia player. The Iowa native competed two seasons for the Lady Bulldogs from 1985-87 before transferring to her home state and finishing her playing career at Iowa.
At UCF, Abrahamson-Henderson went 131-49 in six seasons and was American coach of the year this season as the Knights went 26-4 overall and 14-1 in the league. She is the third head coach in Georgia history, following Andy Landers and Joni Taylor, who just took the job replacing the retiring Gary Blair at Texas A&M.
“This is a dream come true. I am thrilled to return to Georgia as the head coach at one of the premier women’s basketball programs in the country,” Abrahamson-Henderson said in a statement. “I also want to thank Andy Landers and Joni Taylor for the foundation of success they have laid as we continue to build on that great tradition.
“What we did at UCF was the most historic season in school history. It is not easy to leave a place like UCF, and I want all our administrators, players, alumni, fans and supporters to know you will always hold a special place in our hearts.”
Abrahamson-Henderson has gone 372-157 in 17 seasons as head coach at UCF, Albany and Missouri State, winning the 2005 WNIT title with the Lady Bears.
She also has had stops as an assistant at Indiana, Washington, Michigan State, Iowa State, Maine and Duquesne. Her husband, Michael Henderson, is a former college basketball player who has been a longtime official, currently in Division I women’s game. He previously officiated in the WNBA and the NBA.
“We are thrilled to welcome Katie, Michael and their daughters Savannah and Brooklyn to Athens,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement. “Throughout this process, one name kept coming up, and that was Coach ‘ABE.’ Her resume and history of success at every level is impressive. Our goal was to find a proven coach who has had sustained success both in competing for conference titles and in the NCAA tournament. Katie is the entire package, and I can’t wait to see what her teams are able to accomplish here at the University of Georgia.”
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