 | Many Bulldogs were honored for being both scholars and athletes under the reign of Amy Backus (left). |
Amy Backus, Yale's Joel E. Smilow Head Coach of Women's Basketball, is retiring from coaching after 25 years on the sidelines to accept a position as a varsity sports administrator with Yale Athletics.
Backus, who is in her sixth year at the helm of the Bulldogs, will remain as head coach until a replacement is hired.
"After 25 years in the profession, I have made a decision to retire from coaching, a decision that has been both an easy and difficult one to make," Backus says. "Easy, because I have had a fulfilling and wonderful professional life as a basketball coach for the past two and a half decades. Difficult, because one never feels they are quite finished teaching the kinds of skills needed to be successful both on the basketball court and in the challenging moments of everyday life.
"I'm proud of the student-athletes I've coached at Yale and how they have represented this great university," she adds. "I am fortunate to have the opportunity to continue working within the Yale athletic family to help further our department and university goals."
Backus has a 213-202 record as a head coach at Yale, Middlebury and Otterbein. Before coming to Yale, the 1979 Central Michigan graduate was an assistant coach at Northwestern for four seasons. She also served as an assistant at Vermont and as a graduate assistant at her alma mater.
During Backus' tenure, the Bulldogs have set team records for three-pointers and blocks in a season, and individual players have broken Yale career records for three-pointers and blocks. Backus has coached nine All-Ivy players, three Ivy All-Rookie selections and three Academic All-Ivy honorees.
In addition to on-court accolades, the Yale women have proven to be stars in the classroom under Backus. The Bulldogs are the only Ivy team to have made the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's list of the nation's top 25 team GPA's twice in the last five years. In addition, Julie Cohen '04 received the Charles T. Stoner Law Scholarship Award, given annually at the Women's Final Four to a female collegiate basketball player pursuing a law career.
"Amy Backus is an exceptional person," says Tom Beckett, director of athletics. "She has given her all to her Yale students. For that we are most grateful. We look forward to her continued good work for Yale and Yale Athletics."
Backus has initiated girls' basketball camps and clinics in the spring and summer to further the community outreach programs of the athletics department. Yale players are active in the New Haven community, acting as mentors in local schools as well as serving as role models during clinics both on and off campus.
On a national level, Backus participates every year as a clinician for the NCAA-sponsored Youth Education through Sports (YES) program at the women's Final Four. She is also on the WBCA Scholarship Award Committee.
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