By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The legacy of Tennessee Tech women's basketball is a tremendous one. The championship trophies, the banners hanging in the Hooper Eblen Center rafters, the long list of decorated student-athletes all illustrate that point.
On Thursday, the Golden Eagle women added one more accolade that only a select group of Division I women's basketball programs have ever done – win a thousand games.
With the 85-70 win over SIUE, Tech became the 21st team in all of Division I to reach that mark and it's an elite group including Tennessee (1,434), UConn (1,249), Stanford (1,194), James Madison (1,186), Louisiana Tech (1,181), Texas (1,165), Stephen F. Austin (1,165), Old Dominion (1,129), Maryland (1,088), South Dakota State (1,077), Green Bay (1,066), Baylor (1,063), Ohio State (1,060), Notre Dame (1,056), Western Kentucky (1,054), Georgia (1,050), Belmont (1,038), North Carolina (1,032), NC State (1,009), Kansas State (1,009) and Tennessee Tech (1,000).
Midway through the program's 53rd season, the numbers average out to 19 wins a season – a strong number indicating a tradition of success.
"I just want to recognize all the players – from that first team with Coach Meadors that started in 1970 to the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s and all the way up to this last decade," Tech women's basketball head coach Kim Rosamond said. "It's special to be a part of because of the players who have played in this program. There have been so many others behind the scenes from assistant coaches to managers to practice players to athletic trainers to sports information directors and broadcasters – so many people have invested their time. You don't have success alone – there are so many people who take part. We remember you tonight, recognize you tonight and thank you for helping us get 1,000 wins for Tennessee Tech women's basketball."
Marynell Meadors started the program and led the team to its first win, a 79-46 victory over the Cookeville Independents. She saw Tech through its first 363 victories, including the 100th in 1974 over Illinois State and its 300th in 1983 at Austin Peay.
Bill Worrell, with 408 wins as a head coach and another 93 as an assistant coach, was part of over half of the Tech women's victories. He claimed the program's 500th win – an overtime victory at Southern Illinois in 1992 and its 750th in 2005 over Evansville.
Amy Brown earned the team's 800th win with a 79-46 victory at Jacksonville State in February 2009. The Gamecocks also yielded the team's 900th win under Jim Davis' watch in February 2016.
Rosamond took the helm of the Golden Eagles with Tech standing at 901 total wins. Under her direction, the Golden Eagles have won 99 – leaving her one win away from her own personal milestone. Tech has returned to the top of the Ohio Valley Conference and was the preseason favorite to win the conference this season.
From the assistant coaches to the managers to the athletic trainers to the directors of operations to even the athletics staffers behind the scenes, there are a tremendous amount of people working to help guide the program to success over the team's 53 seasons and it would be nearly impossible to list all of those here, but their efforts to the program haven't gone unnoticed by the coaches and student-athletes.
Then there are the student-athletes. A lot of people have come to Cookeville to don the Purple and Gold. They have weaved a tremendous tapestry of success – 18 regular-season Ohio Valley Conference titles, nine OVC tournament crowns, 10 NCAA appearances and three victories in the tournament including a victory over No. 6-seed South Carolina in 1989, 12 OVC Players of the Year (including Pam Chambers, Jerilynn Harper, Cheryl Taylor, Angela Moorehead, Roschelle Vaughn, Janet Holt and Emily Christian), nine OVC Female Athletes of the Year (Harper, Taylor, Moorehead, Vaughn, Diane Seng and Holt), six 2,000-point scorers, 34 1,000-point scorers, seven retired numbers, 20 TTU Sports Hall of Famers.
The first 1,000 wins tell an incredible story. As the next day dawns, the Golden Eagles look forward to getting their next 1,000 wins.
Their story is just beginning.
