Idaho hires Carrie Eighmey from DII Nebraska-Kearney as head women’s basketball coach
MOSCOW, Idaho – Carrie Eighmey, who coached Nebraska-Kearney for eight seasons and led the team to NCAA Division II Tournament appearances the past three seasons, was announced Friday as Idaho’s 10th women’s basketball head coach.
Eighmey replaces Idaho’s all-time winningest coach, Jon Newlee. He compiled a 257-213 record in 15 years with the Vandals and made three appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament. But he left UI apparently under strained circumstances in early April, when university officials and Newlee announced they had mutually agreed to part ways.
“It has always been understood that coaches serve at the pleasure of their administration, and I have known that since the beginning,” Newlee said in a statement, “and yet I am excited about finding the next university where I may have a transformational impact on the lives of young women.”
Eighmey has been a head coach for 11 years at Nebraska-Kearney and at Hastings College in Nebraska. Overall, she has 19 years of coaching experience and was with seven teams that averaged 25 wins per year.
“I am thrilled to be the next women’s head coach at the University of Idaho,” Eighmey said.
“I want to thank president Scott Green and (athletics director) Terry Gawlik for the opportunity. (Husband) Devin (an assistant on her staff at UNK) and I can’t wait to get to Moscow and start working.”
In the past season, Eighmey led Nebraska-Kearney to a 28-5 overall record, 20-2 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The Lopers earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, and Eighmey was named the conference’s coach of the year and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year.
“We are thrilled to welcome Carrie and her husband, Devin, to the Vandal family,” Gawlik said. “Coach Eighmey is a winner, pure and simple. She has been successful at every step in her career and has built that success with strong recruiting, hard work, and a passion for preparing young women to be their best selves on and off the court. She is committed to elevating our program through a student-athlete-centered approach, and we could not be more excited for the future of Vandal women’s basketball.”
Eighmey leaves Nebraska-Kearney as the second-winningest coach in program history with a record of 165-74.
“We will focus (at Idaho) on creating positive and impactful experiences for our student-athletes on and off the court,” she said. “We aim to build a top-tier, highly respected program in the Big Sky and, most importantly, make it to the Big Dance.”
Eighmey served as head coach at her alma mater, Hastings College, from 2012-2015 and compiled a 68-31 record, 41-19 in conference. Prior to that, she had four-year stints as an assistant coach at Hastings and at Fort Hays (Kansas) College.
She still appears prominently in the record book at Hastings as the all-time leader in career assists and steals. She played there from 2000-2004.
Idaho had originally planned to introduce her at a news conference Friday, but that was postponed.
She was anticipated to attend the Vandals’ spring football game Friday at 7 p.m. in the Kibbie Dome.