Lehigh University Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- srb1@lehigh.edu
- Phone:
- 610-758-4458
- Alma Mater:
- 15th season
Lehigh head basketball coach Sue Troyan is certainly no stranger to winning. Now in her 15th season, she has helped turn around the women’s basketball program from a struggling team to a two-time Patriot League Champion program. In 2009, Troyan won her second Patriot League title, capping off a historic season in which the Mountain Hawks broke school records in wins (26), league wins (12) and home wins (17). Lehigh won its first-ever Patriot League regular season title by rolling through the league with a 12-2 record to earn the top seed in the tournament. The Mountain Hawks completed their undefeated season at home by winning three tournament games at Stabler Arena to advance to their second NCAA Tournament in school history. Lehigh finished the season with a 26-7 record, the best in Troyan’s tenure with the program, and the Lehigh head coach took home her second Patriot League Coach of the Year award.
In the 2004-05 season, Troyan led the team to 18 regular season wins – the second most in her tenure–and became the first Lehigh head coach to be named the Patriot League Coach of the Year. The Mountain Hawks have won ten plus games in all fourteen of Troyan’s seasons at the helm. She has guided her troops to three Patriot League final appearances, as well as two berths in the NCAA Tournament (1997 and 2009). In 2001-02, Troyan passed Muffet McGraw as the all-time victories leader in Lehigh women’s basketball history and has surpassed 200 career wins.
Throughout her coaching career, Troyan, 42, has been used to her teams faring well. Her first five years as a coach were with Lehigh’s softball team. As the head softball coach, Troyan rebuilt a program that finished 7-30 prior to her appointment. In her five years as head coach, she recorded a 107-87-1 mark, won three consecutive Patriot League titles and a Coach of the Year award. In 1996-97, the women’s basketball team laid claim to its first-ever Patriot League title under Troyan’s tutelage.
In Troyan, Lehigh has a coach who understands the importance of relating to her players, the experience of having played collegiate basketball and the knowledge of what it takes to be successful.
In the season prior to Troyan’s appointment as basketball coach, Lehigh finished 3-24, and in the four previous years Lehigh had a combined 12-97 record. In Troyan’s first season (1995-96), Lehigh finished 14-13, 5-7 in the Patriot League. In 1996-97, Lehigh set a then-school-record with seven Patriot League wins (7-5) and recorded its first-ever Patriot League Tournament victory and championship. By 2002-03, the team set a record with nine wins against league opposition and showcased the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. The 2004-05 squad surpassed that record of nine wins en route to setting a new record of 10 games, as Lehigh returned to the league tournament semifinals. In 2006-07, Lehigh’s top rebounder Jenny Callan ranked in the nation’s top ten by bringing down 10.9 rebounds a game. Under Troyan’s guidance, the 2007-08 Mountain Hawks held opponents to just 52.9 points per game, the fifth lowest total in the NCAA. In 2008-09, the Patriot League champions led the league in scoring (67.3 points per game), field goal percentage (.428), 3-point field goal percentage (.346) and assists per game (14.4). Lehigh also set a school record for 3-pointers made in the season, sinking 196 as a team.
Troyan has mentored the Patriot League Player of the Year two times in her career with the Mountain Hawks. Jessica DePalo became the first Lehigh player to ever win the award in 2005, and Erica Prosser took home the honor after her sophomore season in 2009.
Prior to her latest coaching endeavor, Troyan served five years as an assistant basketball coach and two years as the Director of Athletic Program Budgets. In her first two years at Lehigh she served as a graduate assistant, before becoming Lehigh’s first full-time women’s basketball assistant coach.
A 1988 graduate of
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Sue and her husband Fran – Lehigh’s head softball coach – reside in
