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Muffet McGraw announces retirement as Notre Dame coach, Niele Ivey will assume Irish coaching role

Photo Credit: Lance King/Getty Images

Muffet McGraw announces retirement as Notre Dame coach, Niele Ivey will assume Irish coaching role

When women’s basketball returns, it will return sans one of its most iconic coaches who is putting away her coach’s whistle after over 30 years in the game.

Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw, who coached the Fighting Irish for 33 years, won two national championships in South Bend and is a staunch advocate for women’s equality announced that she would be calling it a career.

McGraw’s career comes to a close with 936 career victories – including 848 in South Bend. Also among McGraw’s career accomplishments – reaching the 900-win plateau during the 2018-19 season, the year after McGraw won her second national championship as Notre Dame’s coach.


I am grateful to have worked with the best assistant coaches in the business, and I have been blessed to coach so many phenomenal women.

–Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame press conference)


Every time I had the privilege of stepping into her classroom, be it at practice or courtside during a game, I was struck by how much she cared about her students and how important it was for her to use basketball as a vehicle to help develop future leaders.

–Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame athletic director (Notre Dame press conference)

McGraw’s career also includes nine Final Four appearances and 24 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament. The list of players that have passed through South Bend en route to the WNBA also reads like a who’s who from Ruth Riley to Skylar Diggins-Smith to Natalie Achonwa to Kayla McBride to Arike Ogunbowale.


I am proud of what we have accomplished and I can turn the page to the next chapter in my life with no regrets, knowing that I have it my best every day.

–Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame press conference)

Swarbrick either had an inkling that McGraw was leaning in this direction for a while or Notre Dame kept this whole coaching process under wraps for a good while. Because when McGraw announced that she would be stepping down as Notre Dame’s coach, the Fighting Irish almost immediately announced who would take McGraw’s place – Niele Ivey, who formerly played for Notre Dame.


My love and appreciation for Coach McGraw is beyond anything I can express. She’s more than a mentor, more than a friend, she’s one of the most influential people in my life. I am full of gratitude for Coach McGraw and what she has done for me. She was the first to give me an opportunity to play for Notre Dame and coach here as well. I will forever be grateful for her love and support.

–Niele Ivey, new Notre Dame women’s basketball coach (Notre Dame press conference)

Ivey not only was a former Fighting Irish, she was previously an assistant under McGraw. Ivey previously was also an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies. The ascent of Ivey to McGraw’s former post as Notre Dame’s new coach can be seen as not only a basketball move that the Fighting Irish hope will be a successful one in the future, but as an emphatic exclamation point on McGraw’s work as an advocate for women.

This is because not only will McGraw’s job be held by another woman – but an African-American woman at that.


She’s one of the best young coaches in the game today and her success with the Grizzlies has helped make her even more prepared for her new role.

–Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame press conference)


She will be a fantastic role model and a leader in the women’s empowerment movement, and she will represent Notre Dame in a way that will make our fans proud.

–Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame press conference)

Ivey thanked the Grizzlies organization for the experienced she gained as a coach in the professional level and believes, as McGraw does, that it made her beyond prepared to take over the reins at Notre Dame.


I am so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be on their staff and to be a part of such an amazing organization. I have had the opportunity to learn and develop from Taylor and I’m so grateful for this amazing leadership and expertise. I developed a family in Memphis and I am so blessed.

–Niele Ivey, new Notre Dame women’s basketball coach (Notre Dame press conference)

The Taylor is Taylor Jenkins – the Memphis Grizzlies’ coach. At the press conference to join Ivey was her son, Jaden, who is staying in the state of Indiana to play basketball at Purdue.


As a player and as a coach, Niele helped Notre Dame women’s basketball perform at a championship level. She understands Notre Dame and what it takes to help young women reach their potential here. We look forward to working closely with her in the years ahead.

–Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame athletic director (Notre Dame press conference)

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