Eastern Michigan Athletics
Women's Basketball
Nov 26 (Wed)
1 p.m.
- Title:
- Head Coach
E-mail the Coaching Staff.
Success. Many definitions exist, but there is no doubt that Eastern Michigan University head women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant knows exactly how to achieve it in a basketball program.
Merchant has taken over two programs that were fledging, in Saginaw Valley State University and EMU, and produced 20-plus win seasons, made NCAA Tournament appearances, received top 25 votes, as well as garnering Women’s College Basketball Association Top 25 GPA honors at both institutions.
The 2006-07 season marks Merchant’s ninth season as head coach of the EMU women’s basketball program. During the 2000-01 season, she posted her 100th career coaching win, a home victory over Bowling Green, Feb. 21, 2001. Merchant’s 100th victory at EMU came in the 2004-05 season opener, a 82-31 decision over Wayne State, Nov. 19, 2004. She enters the season ranked second in all-time EMU coaching victories with 144, just two behind Kathy Hart’s standard of 146. Merchant is the school’s leader in winning percentage (.615) and ranks eighth in the conference all-time annals.
In 2005-06 Merchant guided the Eagles to a 22-8 overall record and a 15-1 Mid-American Conference mark en route to the program’s second MAC West Division Championship and a Postseason WNIT berth. The Green and White’s 15 league wins were the most in program history and marked the third consecutive time the Eagles had reached the 20-win plateau. Leading the West Division from wire-to-wire in the regular season, the Eagles won 18 out of their final 20 games to end the season.
Eastern Michigan recorded the program’s first back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2003-05 and 2004-05. The 2004-05 season saw the Eages post a school-best 23 victories en route to earning the program’s first-ever Postseason WNIT Tournament bid. Merchant’s squad received votes in the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA national poll for the first-time in school history. Eastern topped the league in nine statistical categories, while finishing ninth in the nation in rebounding margin and 26th in scoring margin. She also coached Ryan Coleman, the runner-up for MAC Player of the Year, to Kodak/WBCA Honorable Mention All-American accolades. Along with her coaching duties, she assumed the interim role of Associate Athletics Director/Senior Women’s Administrator in April of 2005 through June 2006.
In 2003-04, the building blocks that Merchant had laid finally came to fruition, as the nation’s 14th youngest team captured the program’s first-ever conference title as well as an NCAA Tournament berth. A preseason seventh overall pick, the Eagles defied expectations, posting a then school best 22 overall wins and 12 conference victories. Merchant is the first female coach at EMU to win a Mid-American Conference title and was selected the BCAM Coach of the Year. Additionally, the team had an RPI of 62, the lowest in the history of the program and 235 positions over where the program was when Merchant first arrived in 1998.
The Eagles garnered national attention in the NCAA Tournament as they almost pulled off the unthinkable against No. 3 Boston College in the first round of the Mideast Regional. After being down by nearly 20 points early on, the No. 14 seeded Eagles rallied and had a chance to defeat BC at the buzzer, but the game-winning three-point shot was off target as Eastern fell, 58-56.
In 2002-03, Merchant put together another strong showing and set the foundation for future success. Despite fielding a very young team, the Eagles turned in another strong showing during Mid-American Conference play, finishing the year with a 9-7 mark, the second most victories within the conference.
The 2001-02 season also displayed the tradition of developing a winning program, as EMU set then-school records for single-season wins, single-season conference wins and the most wins in a four-year period of the program. The 2001-02 Eagles also posted their second-straight victory over a Big Ten opponent, winning at Ohio State after having beaten Michigan State during the 1999-2000 season.
In her first three years at the helm of the Eagles, Merchant led the squad to three consecutive overall winning and .500-or-better conference seasons for the first time in school history. She also led them to a berth in the 2000 Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals for just the second time in school history. Her 14-13 record in her inaugural year was the first winning record for Eastern since the 1985-86 season and marked just the second time in eight years EMU qualified for the MAC Tournament.
In 2000-01, the team was invited to play in the preseason Women’s National Invitational Tournament, the first time EMU had ever been selected to a national tournament. Her team was also ranked 12th academically in the nation by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association with a 3.28 GPA.
Merchant has shown her ability to work with players in developing their greatest potential. She coached Stephanie Smiley, the school’s first women’s basketball Kodak All-American and a four-time MAC honoree, including being the school’s first two-time first team All-MAC selection. Seventeen times EMU players have received MAC post-season honors during her tenure.
Her inaugural recruiting class in 1999 demonstrated the staff’s ability to recruit quality players, with what was considered the best class in the history of the program. EMU signed five all-staters who were all ranked among the state’s top 25 players, according to the Detroit Free Press. She followed it up in 2000-01 by signing a top-30 guard in the country, Ryan Coleman.
Winning is nothing new to Merchant. The 37-year-old Merchant (7-26-69) took over a fledgling Saginaw Valley State University women’s team in 1995-96 and quickly built the Cardinals into a winner, recording a three-year record of 54-29. She inherited a team with a losing record and directed her first team to a 15-11 mark and a school record for three-point field goals made. The 1996-97 team improved to 19-11 and earned a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament for just the second time in school history. The 1997-98 Saginaw Valley team followed it up with a 20-7 record, earning a GLIAC Tournament berth along the way and rising as high as 15th in the nation in the NCAA Division II rankings. The squad was also ranked in the top 25 academically by the WBCA in Division II.
After spending three seasons at Saginaw Valley, Merchant moved back to her home in 1998, the Mid-American Conference, a place she was all too familiar with after spending four years as a point guard at Central Michigan University from 1987-91. Merchant was a four-year starter and three-year captain for the Chippewas holding the career marks for assists with 463, single-season assists with 156 and tied for the single-game assists mark with 11. She also finished her career third-best in made three-point field goals at 75.
After graduating from Central Michigan with a bachelor's degree in 1991, Merchant was the top assistant women's basketball coach at Oakland University for three years before taking over at Saginaw Valley.
Prior to Central Michigan, Merchant was a standout high school player at Traverse City High School. She earned honorable mention All-America honors by USA Today and was a two-time Class A All-State selection. She was also an All-State volleyball player as a prep.
