By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information & OVC Media Relations
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – As part of a year-long celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, the Ohio Valley Conference celebrated pioneers from member institutions during its annual Spring Meetings Wednesday, sponsoring a Title IX Luncheon that honored 13 pioneers from its current and future members institutions. The honorees, picked by each school, included:
• Lin Dunn, Austin Peay
• Betty Wiseman, Belmont
• Dr. Gail Richard, Eastern Illinois
• Bre Watts, Lindenwood
• Karen Aston, Little Rock
• Deanie Brown, Morehead State
• Margaret Simmons, Murray State
• Cindy Gannon, Southeast Missouri
• Rosemarie Archangel, SIUE
• Patricia Marcum, Southern Indiana
• Chandra Cheeseborough-Guice, Tennessee State
• Marynell Meadors, Tennessee Tech
• Bettye Giles, UT Martin
After graduating from Middle Tennessee, Meadors established the Tennessee Tech women's basketball varsity program in 1970, guiding the team to a 363-139 record in 16 seasons. During her tenure, the Tech women won four Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles, one OVC tournament crown, one NCAA tournament appearance, one WNIT appearance and five AIAW national tournament appearances. The Nashville native was twice named the OVC Coach of the Year and was the first Division I women's coach with 300 wins at one institution.
Meadors also oversaw the Tech volleyball program's transition into varsity status, coaching the team's first varsity season in 1975 with a 25-15 record. She also helped establish the Tech women's tennis program in 1973.
Following the 1985-86 season, Meadors accepted the head coaching position at Florida State, leading the program for 10 years with two Metro Conference championships and NCAA tournament appearances. In 1996, she was named the head coach and general manager for the WNBA's Charlotte Sting in the league's inaugural season, then the director of scouting for the Miami Sol. After the team disbanded, she returned to the collegiate level as an assistant coach for Pittsburgh from 2003 to 2005. Meadors came back to the WNBA as an assistant coach for the Washington Mystics before being named the head coach and general manager for the Atlanta Dream in 2007. She was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2009.
Meadors has also coached Team USA on four separate occasions -- an assistant in 1992 on the William Jones Cup gold medalists, the head coach in 1993 on the William Jones Cup bronze medalists, the assistant coach for the 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medalists and assistant coach for the 2012 London Olympic gold medalists.
In December 2017, Meadors returned to coaching as the head coach of the Atlanta Monarchs in the Women's Professional Basketball Association.
Meadors was inducted into the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
June 23, 2022 marks the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, which was signed into law in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It states:
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity."
The OVC established women's championships in the sports of basketball, tennis and track in 1977 with cross country and volleyball added over the next four years. Those sports were initially governed by the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), but the overall strength of women's programs in the league was demonstrated by the automatic bids the OVC instantly received when the NCAA became the governing body in 1982. The conference added women's golf and softball in 1994, women's soccer in 1998 and recently added beach volleyball in 2020.