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Boyle begins Virginia tenure

After 34 years under Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan, team prepares for inaugural season with new coach

A single stabilizing presence has marked the last 34 seasons of Virginia women's basketball. Recruiting classes have come and gone and the roster has been built and rebuilt, but students who once filed into University Hall in 1977 to watch a fresh-faced 25-year-old returned to John Paul Jones Arena in 2011 to see the same coach resign as one of college basketball's winningest leaders. After guiding the Cavaliers for more than a third of a century, Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan announced her retirement at the end of last season, leaving the Cavaliers with an unprecedented void to fill.

During her tenure, Ryan notched three NCAA Final Four appearances and a closet full of coaching awards, including College Coach of the Year in 1991 and seven ACC Coach of the Year awards. Ryan's final season saw the team snap a streak of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, but the Cavaliers actually exceeded expectations in what many critics called a rebuilding year. After losing Monica Wright as second overall pick in the 2010 WNBA draft, pundits pegged Virginia to bring up the rear in the ACC, but the team instead marched to a middle-of-the-pack eighth place (19-16, 5-9 ACC) finish.

Despite missing out on the NCAA Tournament, the Cavaliers were able to deliver a bittersweet sendoff for Ryan, as the team mounted a deep run in the WNIT and avenged a 23-point regular season home loss against Boston College with a 53-48 upset against the Eagles to advance to the tournament's quarterfinal. When Charlotte ended Virginia's season two days later, however, the euphoria of a tournament run was replaced with an unsettling apprehension - the Cavaliers would need to find a replacement for Ryan.

While Ryan was becoming the face of Virginia basketball, former California and Richmond head coach Joanne Boyle was building a legacy of her own, albeit with a much smaller sample. After taking over a California program which had produced 12 straight losing seasons, Boyle compiled a 137-64 record during her six years there, was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2007 and captured the 2010 WNIT title. Virginia introduced Boyle as its next head coach April 11, ushering in a new era of basketball at Virginia.

"It was an amazing experience playing for coach Ryan for three years," junior forward Chelsea Shine said. "She's been here for 34 years and obviously she has built this place up. But I'm also really thankful to have the opportunity to play for the next coach who's going to come in and build this place back up to where it once was, to be a part of both the coach Ryan and the coach Boyle era."

In her inaugural season, Boyle must replace a legend and implement her coaching style on a group of players she did not recruit and is only just getting to know. Boyle inherits a balanced, experienced offense led by junior guard China Crosby, last year's ACC All-Freshman guard Ataira Franklin, ACC Sixth Player of the Year senior forward Ariana Moorer and Shine, each of whom averaged between seven and 10 points per game. With no incoming freshmen on the active roster, however, Boyle faces the strange predicament of having veteran players who are well-versed in the wrong system.

"We want to run a simple motion offense with a lot of flare screens and ball screens which I call a structured motion," Boyle said. "These players haven't been in my system so it's not like I have seniors who have been through it. It's like coaching 10 new players into one new system, so everybody is new and in that sense, it's like we have 10 freshmen."

During practice, Boyle has tried to methodically teach her players a new set of instincts which will help them adjust to Boyle's motion offense.

"We've been doing a lot of little breakdown type drills," Shine said. "When the coaches throw something new at us, we need to break it down into smaller groups to understand what they're looking for."

Beyond strategy, Boyle's teams have had success by keying in on the fundamentals of defense and rebounding. Boyle demands that players come to practice with focus and energy, and believes the system must be part of a larger philosophy which demands hustle and execution.

"To a certain point, it's just about discipline and having the right mentality, so if we're not meeting [Boyle's] standards and playing up to a certain level, she's going to just put us on the line and make us run," Franklin said. "We get to the point that we're tired of running and we have to knuckle down and get the job done."

Although the team was picked to finish eighth in the ACC preseason poll and it may take time for Boyle to tweak the roster to her liking, the new coach sees a bright future for Virginia basketball.

"I think a lot of programs claim that they can offer a lot in terms of athletics, facilities and academics, but there are few places that can truly back it up," Boyle said. "I think Virginia is one of those places where you can truly say without a doubt that you have everything you need in order to compete, and I wanted the challenge of restoring this program"

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