SEASON UPDATE Carly Thibault-Dudonis Named Fairfield Head Coach

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Carly Thibault will win the MAAC tourney today and take Fairfield to 30-1 in her second season. Fairfield will be going to the NCAAs.

Whalen should have handed her the clipboard three years ago. Gophers would have made an NCAA tourney under her.
 

CoachJD said:
Carly Thibault will win the MAAC tourney today and take Fairfield to 30-1 in her second season. Fairfield will be going to the NCAAs.

Whalen should have handed her the clipboard three years ago. Gophers would have made an NCAA tourney under her.
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Fairfield plays the MAAC final tomorrow versus TBD. The Stags defeated the Golden Griffins today
 

Lynx should hire Thibault-Dudonis as head coach. If she is anything like her dad in WNBA they will win a lot of games if they pick her. Nothing against Cheryl Reeve but she is GM and basically president of basketball operations. Once the league expands, salary cap changes, everything is going to require a lot more attention to detail in scouting, managing the cap, player free agency, and drafts. At some point that stuff is going to become so time consuming, it is going to be difficult to be both the GM and head coach of a franchise wearing two hats. Reeve is a good basketball coach, but you can spread yourself too thin doing two jobs.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Lynx should hire Thibault-Dudonis as head coach. If she is anything like her dad in WNBA they will win a lot of games if they pick her. Nothing against Cheryl Reeve but she is GM and basically president of basketball operations. Once the league expands, salary cap changes, everything is going to require a lot more attention to detail in scouting, managing the cap, player free agency, and drafts. At some point that stuff is going to become so time consuming, it is going to be difficult to be both the GM and head coach of a franchise wearing two hats. Reeve is a good basketball coach, but you can spread yourself too thin doing two jobs.
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The Lynx have a GM - Clare Duwelius. Cheryl is still involved, but I think that helps some.
 

CoachJD said:
Carly Thibault will win the MAAC tourney today and take Fairfield to 30-1 in her second season. Fairfield will be going to the NCAAs.

Whalen should have handed her the clipboard three years ago. Gophers would have made an NCAA tourney under her.
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I think it is better for Carly’s career to start out as a head coach at Fairfield and learn how to build a successful program than she would have been starting out at Minnesota or any Power 5 school for that matter.

That said, I was always a big fan of Carly’s and thought she was a great hire by Whalen. I distinctly remember cringing when reading posts by one of the “contributors” on this board that Whalen only hired her cronies and that none of the those assistants had any business coaching at this level.

I’m happy to see based on the comments in this thread that nobody else seemed to share that take on her.
 


gopher572 said:
The Lynx have a GM - Clare Duwelius. Cheryl is still involved, but I think that helps some.
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That and I think when the time comes Reeve will hand off reigns to someone on her staff like Smith. I do think Thibault-Dedonis is a quality coach.
 
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gopherdudepart2 said:
That and I think when the time comes Reeve will hams off reigns to someone on her staff like Smith. I do think Thibault-Dedonis is a quality coach.
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I think Carly is great too. It will be interesting to continue to follow her career.
 






Thibault-DuDonis, carrying on the family business, has Fairfield on a 20-game winning streak

Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis had trouble sleeping as a child, so she would often get up and go downstairs to sit with her dad, now-former NBA assistant and WNBA head coach Mike Thibault, who seemed to be always awake and breaking down game film.
apnews.com

AP article about Carly Thibault from a couple of weeks back

“I would have been a horrible head coach had I not worked for Lindsay,” Thibault-DuDonis said. “I think it’s really easy to get caught up in the competition, in the business and the wins and losses. And she was people-oriented. And I think that really impacted me in a really positive way.”

Thibault-DuDonis was a surprise hire when long-time Fairfield coach Joe Frager retired in 2022 after leading the Stags to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 21 years.

But senior guard Janelle “Nellie” Brown said the young coach immediately sat down with the team, shared her vision, showed them where they could get better and convinced them that she cared about them as people. It also helped that she was a woman, and not that far removed from her own playing days at Monmouth, said Brown, who is averaging just under 14 points a game.

“She knows what it is being in this tedious generation,” Brown said. “She understands the pains that we go through, the struggles, the stresses. So it was definitely a factor to help in us really buying into her.”


She also recruited well, landing players such as freshman Meghan Andersen, who is averaging just under 16 points per game for the Stags.

“She builds connections here and you see that on the court how we play,” Andersen said. We’re very connected. We have chemistry. And I think that starts with her because that’s what she tries to create for us.”
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Fairfield and Indiana are 1-1 with the Stags winning 89-85 in December 1984 and the Hoosiers prevailing 91-58 in December 2021.

In the 2021 game, Janelle Brown, this season's MAAC Player of the Year, scored 2 points and collected 5 rebounds before fouling out in 18 minutes. Brown demonstrated in the MAAC championship game that she can still accumulate fouls quickly.

For Indiana, Mackenzie Holmes (23 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes) and Chloe Moore-McNeil played in the 2021 game.
 

Thibault-DuDonis Signs Three-Year Contract Extension as Fairfield Women’s Basketball Head Coach - Fairfield University Athletics

Coach Carly has led the Stags to the most historic season in school history
fairfieldstags.com

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Women's Basketball Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis has signed a contract extension through the 2029-30 season. Coach Carly has been at the helm of the most historic season in the history of the Fairfield Women's Basketball program which includes the 2024 MAAC Championship, the team's first-ever AP Top 25 ranking, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where the Stags will tip-off against Indiana on Saturday.

"Fairfield has become our home, and the people here have become our family," said Thibault-DuDonis. "This place is incredibly special, starting with the passionate, caring, and driven people that come together to strive for excellence. This can be and is becoming one of the elite women's basketball schools in the country, and we've been able to prove that to be true in the last few years. I'm grateful to Dr. Nemec, Paul Schlickmann, and our entire administration for believing in me, supporting our staff and student-athletes every step of the way, and for entrusting me with this program going forward. This season has been exciting and record breaking in so many ways, and while we aren't done yet, we are thrilled about what lies ahead for Fairfield Women's Basketball. This is only the beginning, I'm here to stay!"
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Whalen should have handed her the clipboard three years ago. Gophers would have made an NCAA tourney under her.
 




Stags Take Down The Mount For 40th-Straight MAAC Win - Fairfield University Athletics

Andersen tallies 25 in the victory
fairfieldstags.com

The 2024-25 season is going well:

EMMITSBURG, Md. – Meghan Andersen tallied a game-high 25 points and the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team led wire-to-wire in picking up their 40th-straight win over a MAAC opponent with an 81-61 victory at Mount St. Mary's. Andersen led a quartet of Stags in double-figures with Emina Selimovic tallying 17, Raiana Brown adding 13, and Kaety L'Amoreaux filling out the stat sheet with 11.

"That's a great road win!" Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "I loved how we took care of the ball against their pressure and played with poise throughout the game. We knew we needed to dig in defensively to win this game and we did just that!"

The Stags (23-3; 17-0 MAAC) also picked up their 12th road win of the season, tying the national lead.

Fairfield, who entered as the MAAC's top offensive team, reached 80 points in a game for the ninth time this season and the fourth time this month.

Andersen was the focal point in the first half with 21 points over the first 20 minutes which featured three 3-pointers. She scored 10-straight for the team to open up a 14-9 lead and gave the squad a double-digit advantage with a layup following a Sydni Scott triple.

Fairfield found dominance inside in the second quarter with 14 points in the paint. Brown led the Stags with their toughness inside the arc with 10 points during the period. Andersen converted an 'And-1' opportunity to put the score at 33-19 and closed out the half with another 3-pointer.

After the Mount cut their deficit to 12, Izabela Nicoletti-Leite answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and L'Amoreaux drove in for a lay-up to force a Mount timeout.

Selimovic and the Stags withheld any idea of a Mount comeback with Selimovic tallying 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Stags led by as many as 20 in the final period.

Andersen led the Stags with 25 points while going 4-for-11 from deep. Selimovic had her third-straight double-digit game with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting. She also led the Stags on the boards with a season-high nine rebounds. All 10 players who entered the game for Fairfield grabbed at least one rebound with the team tallying 46, the most in a game this season.

L'Amoreaux once again filled out the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, and two steals.

Nicoletti-Leite dished out five assists without a turnover, improving her 3.17 assist-turnover ratio which had ranked in the top-five nationally.

With the win, the Stags will have a chance to clinch at least a share of the MAAC Regular Season title when they host Sacred Heart at Leo D. Mahoney on Saturday night at 7pm.
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