Suzy Merchant was officially introduced as Michigan State
University's head women's basketball coach April 30 in
East Lansing. Merchant leaves Eastern Michigan University
after having coached the women's basketball team to 147
wins in the past nine seasons.
Michigan State began looking
for a new coach after Duke University hired Joanne P.
McCallie earlier this month. The Spartans have made it
to five straight NCAA tournaments, including this year,
and to the 2005 national championship game.
 |
OFF TO MSU: Suzy Merchant, the winningest
women's
basketball coach in Eastern Michigan University
history, was introduced as the new women's
basketball
coach at Michigan State University during a
press
conference in East Lansing April 30. |
"Suzy Merchant has been a tremendous ambassador for
Eastern Michigan University and the women's basketball
team for the past nine years, and we will miss her greatly," said
Derrick Gragg, EMU's athletics director. "I want to
thank Suzy for what she has done for the Eastern Michigan
athletic program and we wish her the best at Michigan State.
She has represented this institution with integrity, passion
and commitment to both athletic and academic achievement.
I know that she will do an excellent job in the Big Ten
Conference. We will begin searching for her replacement
immediately. As one of the premiere women's basketball
programs in the Mid-American Conference, we feel that we
will attract outstanding candidates for the position."
In 12 years as a collegiate head coach, Merchant is 201-119,
including 147-90 at EMU. Merchant was the first female
coach at EMU to win a Mid-American Conference title and
was selected the BCAM Coach of the Year in 2004. That same
season, the team had an RPI of 62, the highest in the history
of the program and 235 positions over where the program
was when Merchant first arrived in 1998.
The 37-year-old Merchant missed most of the 2006-07 campaign
due to maternity leave. However, in that short time frame,
she won three of four games she coached, including the
200th of her career and a school-record 147th at Eastern
Michigan.
She guided the Eagles to their first NCAA tournament appearance
in 2004, when the Eagles nearly upset third-seeded Boston
College. In 2005-06, EMU posted a 22-8 mark and a school-best
15-1 record in the MAC en route to winning the West Division.
The previous season, the Eagles won a school-record 23
games along with advancing to the Postseason WNIT.
Eastern Michigan University will immediately begin a search
for a replacement.
