Fairfield, on a 29-game winning streak, gives coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis a contract extension
HOLD FOR STORY — Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis conducts practice at Fairfield University, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. The 32-year-old, second-year head coach is leading her team to a 22-1 record on the cusp of their first AP Top 25 ranking. The Stags are currently on a 20-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb)
FILE - Fairfield coach Carly Thibault, center, speaks with her team during a timeout in an NCAA college basketball game, Feb. 8, 2024, in Fairfield, Conn. No. 25 Fairfield earned its first-ever ranking last week and became the eighth team to run through conference play undefeated. The Stags have a 26-game winning streak and their lone loss came to Vanderbilt, which is on the NCAA bubble. If Fairfield makes it to the final of the tournament on Saturday, March 16, 2024, and loses they might still have a shot to get an at-large bid. (Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP, File)
FILE - Carly Thibault-DuDonis, head coach of the Fairfield University women’s basketball team, directs her team in a game against Marist at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena, Fairfield, February 8, 2024. Thibault-DuDonis is in her second year as a head coach, leading Fairfield to a 22-1 record and a 20-game winning streak. (Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP, File)
HOLD FOR STORY — Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis conducts practice at Fairfield University, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. The 32-year-old, second-year head coach is leading her team to a 22-1 record on the cusp of their first AP Top 25 ranking. The Stags are currently on a 20-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb)
HOLD FOR STORY — Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis conducts practice at Fairfield University, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. The 32-year-old, second-year head coach is leading her team to a 22-1 record on the cusp of their first AP Top 25 ranking. The Stags are currently on a 20-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb)
FILE - Fairfield coach Carly Thibault, center, speaks with her team during a timeout in an NCAA college basketball game, Feb. 8, 2024, in Fairfield, Conn. No. 25 Fairfield earned its first-ever ranking last week and became the eighth team to run through conference play undefeated. The Stags have a 26-game winning streak and their lone loss came to Vanderbilt, which is on the NCAA bubble. If Fairfield makes it to the final of the tournament on Saturday, March 16, 2024, and loses they might still have a shot to get an at-large bid. (Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP, File)
FILE - Fairfield coach Carly Thibault, center, speaks with her team during a timeout in an NCAA college basketball game, Feb. 8, 2024, in Fairfield, Conn. No. 25 Fairfield earned its first-ever ranking last week and became the eighth team to run through conference play undefeated. The Stags have a 26-game winning streak and their lone loss came to Vanderbilt, which is on the NCAA bubble. If Fairfield makes it to the final of the tournament on Saturday, March 16, 2024, and loses they might still have a shot to get an at-large bid. (Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP, File)
FILE - Carly Thibault-DuDonis, head coach of the Fairfield University women’s basketball team, directs her team in a game against Marist at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena, Fairfield, February 8, 2024. Thibault-DuDonis is in her second year as a head coach, leading Fairfield to a 22-1 record and a 20-game winning streak. (Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP, File)
FILE - Carly Thibault-DuDonis, head coach of the Fairfield University women’s basketball team, directs her team in a game against Marist at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena, Fairfield, February 8, 2024. Thibault-DuDonis is in her second year as a head coach, leading Fairfield to a 22-1 record and a 20-game winning streak. (Cloe Poisson/Hartford Courant via AP, File)
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Fairfield University announced Thursday that women’s basketball coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis has signed a contract extension designed to keep her at the mid-major through the 2029-30 season.
Terms of the deal were not released.
Thibault-DuDonis, in just her second year at Fairfield, has guided the No. 25 Stags to a 31-1 record and the 2024 MAAC Championship.
No. 13 seed Fairfield will bring a 29-game winning streak into their game Saturday with No. 4 seed Indiana (24-5) in Bloomington.
“This place is incredibly special, starting with the passionate, caring, and driven people that come together to strive for excellence,” Thibault-DuDonis said in a statement. “his can be and is becoming one of the elite women’s basketball schools in the country, and we’ve been able to prove that to be true in the last few years.
The 32-year-old coach is the daughter of former WNBA coach Mike Thibault and the sister of Washington Mystics coach Eric Thibault.
Before being hired at Fairfield, she served as an assistant at Minnesota and Mississippi State where she helped coach the Bulldogs to back-to-back championship game appearances. She also served on staffs at Eastern Michigan and Florida State following her playing days at Monmouth.
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