Women’s college basketball coaching icon Jody Conradt will be the featured guest speaker at the 11th annual "Jane A. Meyer Classic Evening with the Lady Bears," to be held Monday, October 1, at University Plaza Convention Center in Springfield. The 2007 "Classic Evening" will feature a reception and banquet dinner, giving fans the opportunity to share an evening with Coach Conradt, the 2007-08 Missouri State Lady Bears, new MSU head coach Nyla Milleson and her staff.
"To have Coach Conradt come and be a part of Classic Evening is a tremendous honor," Milleson commented. "She is truly one of the legends in our sport and a pioneer in women’s basketball who has influenced programs all over the country. What sets her apart from so many other people is that she’s been successful for such an extended period of time and she’s done it the right way. She has to be one of the classiest, most-respected women in the coaching profession."
A six-time national coach of the year, Jody Conradt concluded her 38-year coaching career with a 900-307 overall record. In her 31-year stay as head coach at the University of Texas, Conradt amassed 783 victories, 22 conference championships, three Final Four appearances and led the Longhorns to the 1986 national title with a perfect 34-0 mark. In October of 1998, she became just the second women’s basketball coach in history (along with Margaret Wade) to be elected into the Naismith National Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The following year, Conradt was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and was one of seven finalists for Naismith Women’s Basketball Coach of the Century honors. She also was inducted into the prestigious International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame (at the Institute for International Sport in Providence, R.I.) in the summer of 2003.
Furthermore, Conradt’s vision for a collegiate women’s basketball program has emphasized both academic achievement and on-court success and her long-term commitment to the sport has been recognized as a key factor in elevating women’s basketball into the national spotlight. Conradt’s Texas program has been a model in college basketball for decades, serving as a blueprint for countless women’s programs all over the country, including the Missouri State Lady Bears.
Previous "Classic Evening" speakers have included North Carolina men’s coach Roy Williams (1997), Tennessee coach Pat Summit (1998), ESPN’s Robin Roberts (1999), former U.S. Olympic and current Auburn coach Nell Fortner (2000), LSU coach Van Chancellor (2001), ESPN analyst Vera Jones (2002), two-time Olympian and current Duquesne coach Suzie McConnell Serio (2003), Lady Bear legend Jackie Stiles (2004), Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie (2005) and former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi (2006).
Additional details on this year’s "Classic Evening," including ticket information, will be released at a later date.
