Old Dominion, 1983
• 1982 Second Team Academic All-America®
• 1983 First Team Academic All-America®
Anne Donovan was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 1994.
Anne Donovan was one of the most decorated players in the history of women's basketball, something that started before she ever stepped on the court at Old Dominion University. A native of Ridgewood, N.J., Donovan was named Parade Magazine's Player of the Year in 1979 and it didn't take long for her to live up to the honor with the Lady Monarchs.
Donovan led ODU to a national championship in 1980 and two more Final Four appearances during her four-year career that stretched from 1979 to 1983. She earned Kodak All-American honors for three years and Academic All-America honors twice. As a senior, she won the Naismith Trophy winner as the national Player of the Year.
At 6-foor-8, Donovan was 15.4 inches taller than the average American woman and she used that advantage to dominate the paint. Donovan finished her career as Old Dominion's career leader with 2,719 points and 1,976 rebounds. She also set an NCAA record with 801 blocked shots.
Majoring in leisure studies, Donovan graduated with a 3.5 grade-point average and was awarded an NCAA post-graduate scholarship for her academic achievements.
Donovan won a Gold Medal at the 1984 Olympics and continued her career with the U.S. National Team through the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea. During that time she also returned to ODU for a position as a part-time assistant basketball coach in 1987. She remained at Old Dominion until 1997 as a full-time assistant coach.
Donovan served as head coach at East Carolina University, the Philadelphia Rage of the ABL, interim head coach with the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and in 2001 became the head coach of the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA. Donovan’s Sting made the finals in 2001 and won the WNBA Eastern Conference in 2002. Donovan also coached the Seattle Storm to the WNBA title in 2004.
Donovan also was involved with the national team, serving as an assistant coach for Team USA during its gold medal wins in 1998, 2002 and 2004. She was moved to head coach of the USA Basketball Women's Senior national team for 2006-08.
Olympic basketball has almost always been a part of Donovan's life. She joined a USA Basketball junior team in 1977. Since then she has been part of the USA family in good times and bad times, including the 1980 Olympic team that didn't play because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games.
"There are difficult days and then there are days when they put a gold medal around your neck," Donovan said. "Since 1988 I've been involved with selection committees and boards of directors. I've seen the inner workings of USA Basketball at every level."
In 2008, as the USA Olympic Head Coach, Donovan made gold medal history as the first player turned head coach to win gold as both.
"That basketball family is the reason I got into basketball," Donovan says. "So when I left my family I went into a different family where I could be myself, expand a little bit and get comfortable in my own skin. And I think that's what has been so addicting for me. The basketball business for me, it's my own family, my own way, and it's very comfortable. It's not a stretch at all."