June 30, 2011

OXFORD, Miss. – David Graves, former head coach at Wofford and most recently the associate head coach at Western Kentucky, has joined the Ole Miss women’s basketball staff, head coach Renee Ladner announced on Thursday.

Graves, who spent six years as the head coach of the Wofford women’s program in the Southern Conference, comes to Ole Miss after the last nine years as the associate head coach at his alma mater Western Kentucky over the last nine seasons.

Over the course of two stints at Western Kentucky, Graves has helped develop 27 All-Sun Belt Conference selections, four Freshman of the Year selections and three Player of the Year selections. He has coached in six NCAA Tournaments, including two Sweet 16 appearances and an appearance in the 1992 National Championship game.

“David has a wealth of experience in recruiting and a great knowledge of the game and development of young players,” Ladner said. “His positive energy and attitude is contagious. He will certainly complement our staff nicely. We are happy to have David and his beautiful family on the Ole Miss team.”

“I’m extremely excited to come to Ole Miss and have the opportunity to work with Renee Ladner and her staff,” Graves said. “I met the team and they are a wonderful group of young ladies. I look forward to working with them on a daily basis. I’d like to thank Coach Ladner for the incredible opportunity to come and coach here at Ole Miss.”

Graves began his coaching career at Western Kentucky as an assistant coach under long-time WKU head coach Paul Sanderford in 1992. That season, the Lady Toppers advanced to the National Championship game of the NCAA Tournament, falling to Stanford.

In his five seasons as an assistant under Sanderford, Graves helped develop nine All-Sun Belt selections, a Freshman of the Year selection and coached in four NCAA Tournament appearances. Western Kentucky posted a 103-29 record in those five seasons with Graves. The Lady Toppers also claimed three Sun Belt Tournament titles and two regular season championships that time.

Graves then left Western Kentucky to take the head coaching position at Wofford in 1996. In his six seasons at Wofford, Graves built up the program as he developed three All-Southern Conference selections, three All-Tournament selections and the 2002 Southern Conference Player of the Year in Jenny Nett. Nett also earned Academic All-America honors as an exemplary student-athlete.

While coaching at Wofford, Graves also worked in cooperation with Impact Ministries to help put on the Acres of Diamonds Camp for underprivileged children.

Following the 2002 season at Wofford, Graves returned to his alma mater to serve as the associate head coach. Over the past nine seasons, Graves coached 18 All-Sun Belt selections, three Freshman of the Year selections and helped lead the Lady Toppers to five SBC Eastern Division titles, two tournament titles and seven appearances in the postseason, including a pair of NCAA Tournament berths.