NEW ORLEANS – Tulane Director of Athletics Troy Dannen announced Friday that the Green Wave has extended the contract of head women’s basketball coach Lisa Stockton through the 2026-27 season.
Stockton, the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in the state of Louisiana and newest inductee to the Conference USA Hall of Fame, will wrap up her third decade at the helm of the Green Wave’s women’s basketball program this season.
“Coach Stockton’s commitment to our student-athletes’ present and future success, be it on the court or off, is unsurpassed,” said Dannen. “She is a first-class representative of our university and athletic department and we’re excited that she will continue to lead our women’s basketball program.”
The announcement comes on the eve of Stockton’s acceptance of the Jimmy Collins Award from the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Awards Committee at the organization’s annual banquet in the Caesars Superdome. The honor is given annually to outstanding individuals and organizations and is named for the longtime New Orleans sportswriter. Collins is credited with creating the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards and forming the awards committee in 1958.
“I am very grateful to Troy and President Michael A. Fitts for the support they have given our program and their confidence in me as their coach,” Stockton said. “This is a great time to be a part of the Tulane community. I am very excited to lead our women’s program to new heights in the new American!”
A 30-year veteran of the Division I head coaching ranks, Stockton is one of the most respected names in all of college basketball. The Greensboro, N.C. native was named one of the 25 most influential women in Louisiana sports history by The Advocate in 2022. In 2020, Silver Waves Media tabbed her as one of the 100 Most Impactful People nationally across the sport of women’s college basketball. To that end, Stockton was a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Issues Committee and was previously on its Academic Subcommittee. Dubbed one of CitiBusiness’s 2007 Women of the Year, she is currently on the NCAA regional ranking committee, has also had two stints on the Kodak All-American Committee, twice chaired the C-USA Women’s Basketball Coaches and served four terms as the WBCA Conference Captain.
A 2017 inductee to the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame, Stockton was named her league’s Coach of the Year three times and Louisiana’s Coach of the Year twice. She is also one of only two active coaches (Stanford’s Tara Vanderveer) to take one of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 40 academic institutions to at least 11 NCAA Tournaments. Stockton is most proud of her student athletes’ collective accomplishments in the classroom, as every four-year player has completed their degrees under her leadership.
Stockton has also made the Pelican State a priority in the construction of her program. Of the 23 players who have become members of Tulane’s 1,000-Point Club during her tenure, 13 hail from the state of Louisiana. She has also had seven players inducted to the school’s athletic Hall of Fame with five coming via homegrown talent.
In NOLA, Stockton has led Tulane to 21 postseason appearances (including nine consecutive NCAA Tournament trips), while averaging 20 wins a season. She has also helped the Olive and Blue secure five conference tournament titles and four regular-season conference titles. While leading the Green Wave, Stockton has mentored six All-Americans and five WNBA draft picks.
While team success has been the ultimate goal, individual recognition has been a constant as well under her leadership. In her 29 years, Tulane has seen 28 different student-athletes earn all-conference honors 53 times and 13 receive All-Freshman recognition.
The Tulane women’s basketball team returns eight players from last season’s roster for the 2023-24 season including 2023 American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team selection Kyren Whittington. The Green Wave have added two freshmen, 6’3” center Lilybeth Ba and 5’8” point guard Joy Madison-Key along with 6’2” graduate transfer forward Hannah Pratt and 5’6” graduate transfer guard Kaylah Rainey.
{Courtesy: Tulane Athletics}