June 12, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s lacrosse head coach Tracy Coyne has been selected as the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association’s 2006 Division I coach of the year in voting by her peers.
Coyne, the only coach in the 10-year history of the Notre Dame program, led the Irish to the best record in the program’s history (15-4) and their first-ever trip to the NCAA semifinals during the 2006 campaign. In doing so, Coyne and her squad set an NCAA record for the biggest turnaround ever in NCAA women’s lacrosse from the previous year. In 2005, Notre Dame was 3-12 and the 10-game turnaround bettered the previous mark of seven games set twice in Division I women’s lacrosse history.
A 1983 graduate of Ohio University, Coyne was also named one of four regional coaches of the year in 2006 as she represented the IWLCA West/Midwest Region. This marks the second time in her career that she has received national coach of the year honors as she was selected the Division III national coach of the year while at Roanoke in 1990.
Coyne was also named BIG EAST coach of the year for the second time in her career this season after receiving the honor in 2004 and was selected by Inside Lacrosse magazine and womenslacrosse.com as their Division I coach of the year for 2006.
The veteran coach won her 200th game career game in Notre Dame’s NCAA tournament win over Cornell on May 14 and now owns a 201-90 (.691) record in 19 seasons as a head coach, including an 87-64 (.576) record in 10 seasons with the Irish. She has led Notre Dame to three NCAA tournament appearances (2002, 2004, 2006) in her 10 seasons guiding the program.
Coyne is also a veteran of international lacrosse as she has led Canada to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup tournament in 2001 and 2005.