Eastern Michigan Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- 734.487.0481
The 2010-11 season marks the fourth season for AnnMarie Gilbert as Eastern Michigan University's Head Women's Basketball Coach.
Hard-working. Compassionate. Dedicated. Just a few words that come to mind when talking about AnnMarie Gilbert.
On May 15, 2007, Eastern Michigan University introduced Gilbert as the seventh head women’s basketball coach in the history of the program.
In her first season in Ypsilanti, Gilbert proved up to her billing. Eastern Michigan posted a 17-12 overall record and gained a share of the 2007-08 Mid-American Conference West Division Championship with an 11-5 mark.
With the division crown, Gilbert became just the fourth first-year head coach in league history to guide her team to a MAC title. Additionally, her 17 wins was an EMU record for most victories by a first-year mentor and also ranks ninth best in conference history for a rookie coach.
Gilbert made a statement in her first game, guiding the Eagles to a 108-22 win over Temple Baptist College, Nov. 11, 2007. Her first conference victory occurred just a few months later, when EMU turned in a dominating 61-42 victory over Northern Illinois University, Jan. 9, 2008.
Year two was a rebuilding season for Gilbert and crew, as 77 percent of the minutes played came from underclassmen who had at least two more years of eligibility remaining. Under her tutelage, Cassie Schrock and Tavelyn James earned All-MAC accolades. Schrock was selected honorable mention All-MAC while James earned All-Freshman team accolades. Additionally, James became the all-time EMU leader in points by a freshman with 426 points and the first freshman to lead the Eagles in scoring since Holly Mitchell did so in 1997-98.
The third year of the Gilbert era was even brighter with a core of returners and a nationally recognized recruiting class coming to town. With an incoming class ranked as the top in the Mid-American Conference and 59th nationally by Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, the Green and White, as the Eagles finished with a 22-9 overall record en route to earning a berth in the Postseason WNIT.
The Eagles became the first MAC women’s basketball program to post a 20-win season following a year in which the team won less than 10 games. EMU also finished just one victory shy of equalling the 1985-86 Ohio University squad for the biggest single-season turnaround in league history.
A rising star in the collegiate coaching ranks, Gilbert possesses 19 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 11 seasons as a head coach. She also spent five years as an assistant coach at Michigan State University, where she helped the Spartans compile an impressive 120-44 record. During her time in East Lansing, the Spartans made it to five consecutive NCAA tournaments and to the 2005 National Championship game.
“It is both an honor and a privilege to take on the challenge of leading the Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball program,” Gilbert said at her introductory press conference in the atrium of the Convocation Center. “The bar has been set high here, but I’m looking forward to raising it to new heights.” “Recruiting is the key to winning MAC championships and advancing to NCAA tournaments,” Gilbert added. “Our staff will be committed to signing the top players not only within the state of Michigan, but in the Midwest and nationally in order to build upon the winning foundation that has already been laid here.”
Under Gilbert’s tutelage, Kristin Haynie and Lindsay Bowen were honorable mention All-America selections in 2004-05, while Haynie was a first-round draft pick (No. 9 overall) of the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA. In 2005-06, Bowen was selected as a John R. Wooden Award candidate and was named second- team All-Big Ten. In 2006-07, Victoria Lucas-Perry earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, while Rene Haynes garnered second-team honors by the coaches.
As the recruiting coordinator for MSU, Gilbert consistently brought excellent talent to East Lansing, including four top 25 recruiting classes. In November of 2006, Gilbert was instrumental in signing five exceptional student-athletes to National Letters of Intent, including three players ranked in the top 100 nationally. As a class, it was ranked among the top 20 in the country by several recruiting publications.
Gilbert helped land another stellar recruiting class for the 2006-07 season, including Michigan Miss Basketball Allyssa DeHaan, who went on to become the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. All-Star Girls Report ranked the 2004-05 class 18th in the nation and Courtney Davidson was ranked as the nation’s sixth-best point guard. The 2005-06 class was ranked 21st in the nation and including Aisha Jefferson, who was the nation’s sixth-ranked forward.
During the 2004-05 season, Gilbert helped guide the program to a school-best 33-4 record which included a Big Ten Conference championship, a Big Ten Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA National Championship game. In her first season with the program Gilbert coached the post players. Under her direction, Liz Shimek was named co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year along with Lindsay Bowen, marking the first time ever two players from the same team earned such an honor.
Prior to joining the Spartans, Gilbert spent the previous eight seasons (1994-2002) as the head women’s basketball coach of NCAA Division III Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. She is still the winningest coach in Oberlin women’s basketball history as the Yeomen made six appearances in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) postseason tournament during her tenure. She assisted in the development of eight separate all-conference players as well as the 1999 All-NCAC Newcomer of the Year.
She began her coaching career at Oberlin as an assistant coach with the women’s basketball team in 1992-93 and was an assistant men’s basketball coach in 1993-94, before assuming the women’s basketball head coaching duties in 1994. In addition to coaching, Gilbert served as the Senior Women’s Administrator/Associate Director of Athletics at Oberlin from 1996-2002.
Gilbert played for two seasons (1986-88) at Mid-American Conference member Ohio University. She transferred to Oberlin for her junior and senior seasons (1989-91), where she was a two-time Kodak first-team All-American, a two-time NCAC Player of the Year, the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year and the Champion USA/WBCA Player of the Year in 1991.
As a junior at Oberlin, Gilbert led the nation in scoring (31.1 points per game) and was the nation’s second-leading scorer as a senior (31.3 ppg). She set the NCAA Division III record for points in a game with 61 against Allegheny, Feb. 6, 1991. She is still the Oberlin record holder for points in a season (778, 1989-90), field goals in a game (28), field goals in a season (319) and free throws made and attempted in a game (13-of-17 vs. Case Western Reserve, Jan. 6, 1990).
In just two seasons as a player at Oberlin, she registered 1,527 points to become the school’s leading scorer, a record which stood until 2002. All told, Gilbert set 24 school records and 10 conference records as a player and still holds 10 standing NCAA Division III records. She received an invitation to compete for the U.S. team in the 1990 Pan Am Games trials in Colorado Springs. Oberlin retired her jersey in 1994 and in 2001 she was inducted into the Oberlin College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Gilbert was a Street & Smith’s All-American, a McDonald’s All-Star game participant and was Ohio Miss Basketball her senior year of high school. For all her success, she was one of the 20 members inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame on May 22, 2010. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with a minor in economics from Oberlin in 1991.
Gilbert has a daughter, Jada (7), and a son, Jaden (5).
