Women’s Basketball Hires Bill Carr
Bill Carr joins Santa Clara after Payne departure
Brent HanowerTHE SANTA CLARAApril 21, 2016
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ollowing the surprising departure of JR Payne, who left Santa Clara for the University of Colorado Boulder, Athletic Director Renee Baumgartner was faced with a difficult situation–finding a coach to lead the women’s basketball team.
On Friday, April 15, Baumgartner announced her choice–Bill Carr.
Baumgartner did not take the traditional path of hiring a head women’s basketball coach from another Division I program, or an upcoming assistant coach.
Bill Carr, likely an unfamiliar name for most, joins the Broncos from Point Loma Nazarene University.
Carr has never coached women’s basketball, spending the last five years at the helm of PLNU men’s basketball team.
During his tenure, Carr coached Point Loma Nazarene University to a 81-63 (.563) record, while overseeing the program’s transition from NAIA to Division II in 2012.
Payne coached the Broncos for only two seasons; however, she led the Broncos to a 23-9 record this season (13-5 in the WCC), the program’s first winning season since 2008.
Overall, the Broncos were 34-27 under Payne.
Carr, a graduate of WCC rival the University of San Francisco, played two seasons for the Dons and has spent 25 years as a men’s basketball coach.
In addition to PLNU, Carr has made head coaching stops at the University of California San Diego and Spring Hill College (AL.).
Carr has also served as an associate head coach (top assistant) at San Diego and Long Beach State, in addition to an assistant at San Francisco.
As a head coach, Carr has a healthy career record of 202-132 (.601) over 11 years.
“While this will be Bill’s first time coaching on the women’s side, I have been fortunate to know him for more than 10 years and track his accomplishments,” Baumgartner said in a press release. “He is a great teacher of the game and proven winner who values the balance between academics, athletics and the student-athlete experience.”
“I can’t wait to be a part of Renee’s vision for Santa Clara athletics,” Carr said. “(Baumgartner’s) energy and passion are tremendous. We want to build on what Coach [JR] Payne and the team did last year.”
The Broncos roster will likely see some changes before the start of the 2016-17 season.
The Broncos have three seniors on the roster, Maddison Allen (DNP-Injury), Brooke Gallaway and Devin Hudson.
“My team will play hard, share the ball, will shoot the ball very well, and defensively we’ll get after you,” Carr said in a video released by the Athletic Department. “We’ll predicate everything on the defensive end and we’ll grind and be a blue collar program.”
The WCC has women’s basketball coaches from a wide range of backgrounds. Carr will become the first without prior experience on the women’s side.
BYU coach Jeff Judkins had the least women’s basketball experience prior to his hiring.
Judkins served only as an assistant coach at the school for a few years, but played in the NBA and coached D1 men’s basketball.
Judkins’ Cougars have been quite successful with multiple conference titles and NCAA berths, something Carr and the Broncos will aspire to maintain.
The Broncos have yet to announce Carr’s assistant coaching staff. Former assistant coaches Toriano Towns, Payne’s husband, and Shandrika Lee followed Payne to Colorado.
Contact Brent Hanower at bhanower@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.