In her 31st season as the Virginia women's basketball coach, Debbie Ryan has accumulated quite the record: three Final Fours, 21 NCAA Tournament berths, 11 ACC regular-season titles, three ACC Tournament championships and most importantly, a triumph over pancreatic cancer. Now she can add one more accomplishment to the list: Hall of Fame member. Ryan sat down for an interview about her most recent accolade, her battle with cancer and the promise of this year's team.
SB: You are being inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June. What does that honor mean to you?
DR: I think what it means is that I have had a lot of great players and coaches that have worked with me over the years; because really, it is not as much my honor as it is an honor for the University and for all the people that have scored the baskets and prepared the teams with me. They have just been the people that deserve this honor. So there are a lot of people going into the Hall of Fame when I go in there. It's not just me. It's all the players, the coaches, the fans and the administration here at Virginia -- from the president to the athletic director to the vice president to the senior women's administrator to all the administration here. That's really what it means to me. It's more about honor for the University than it is about honor for me as an individual.
SB: How has the game changed since you first started coaching at Virginia?
DR: A lot. We've gone from barely scratching the surface to players being so athletic and strong and bigger and taller. In every which way, it has changed. We are faster. We are more exciting. We are able to have such skilled players now -- which wasn't always the case back when I first started coaching here.
SB: What new challenges today do you face that you did not face back then?
DR: The challenges on the court were basically the same -- trying to win games and trying to find ways to overcome your opponent, but off the court, the challenges were more about gender equity, getting everything you could for your team, fighting for things. Really, now that's all sort of disappeared in a lot of ways. You still have to be vigilant, but back then, we were always trying to find ways to have the women have exactly what the men have, which was very different. They were on two different planes in terms of what they were receiving. So a lot of my job was spent trying to find ways that were helpful to the women but not hurtful to the men.
SB: A lot of people know about your struggle with cancer. How did that fight impact your coaching?
DR: I think probably more in a spiritual way than any other way. I think that it has made me a better coach in a lot of ways, more empathetic and just someone that really understands the other side of life. I think I have a lot more fun now. I think I am a lot more patient, although sometimes I'm not, but I am not a naturally patient person. I think I'm a lot more patient now than I was. I'm different in a lot of ways. I think I smell the roses a lot more than I used to.
SB: It looks like you are having a lot of fun with this year's team. How far do you see this team going?
DR: I think the sky is the limit for this team. I think they can go all the way. They are a team that has such incredible chemistry. I have not coached a team in a long time that has the chemistry that they have and that has the closeness that they have in the way that they stick up for each other and the way that they love each other. It's just an incredible team.
Ryan and the Cavaliers return to action Friday night, hosting No. 1 North Carolina at John Paul Jones Arena at 7? p.m.
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