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MSU women's basketball head coach Vic Schaefer announced this morning that he has finalized his staff for the 2016-17 season with the hiring of Carly Thibault, who fills the position left by Elena Lovato, who accepted the head coaching job at Arkansas-Fort Smith.
Thibault was formerly at Eastern Michigan and helped drive their offense to produce some of their most efficient offenses that the program has ever seen, scoring 2445 points in a season (good for third most in EMU history) and 435 assists (seventh most in program history).Thibault helped lead the Eastern Michigan squad to a 22-12 record and a run into the second round of the WNIT.
Eastern Michigan achieved 20 victories each season in Thibault's stint with the Eagles. The 2014-2015 team went on to the WNIT round of 16 along with reaching the MAC tournament championship. The 2014-2015 squad set a program record for points scored (2,549), rebounds (1,539), field goals made (936), and three-pointers made (223).
Carly Thibault's offensive expertise extends beyond just coaching and observing the game as she was a star for Monmouth from 2009-2013. During her time as a student-athlete, Thibault put her name in the record books for the third most three-pointers made in a career with 166 and made 44 percent of her three-point attempts her senior season.
Basketball runs in her family, as her dad has previously coached in the NBA and currently coaches the WNBA's Washington Mystics along with her brother, Eric.
By all indications, this appears to be an excellent hire for Hail State Hoops, and hopefully, Thibault will be a part of our program taking that next step towards the upper echelon in the country as we look to build upon the Sweet 16 appearance this season.
Side note: S/O to Coach Schaefer for his attendance and support of our baseball team all weekend. I'm sure other coaches attended at some point too, but I routinely saw Schaefer throughout the Regionals. It reminded me how much I love our university and the support that our coaches show to each others' programs.