Coach Lin Dunn, one of the true pioneers in women’s basketball history, is a graduate of The University of Tennessee at Martin. Three years after Dunn graduated, UT Martin had its first women’s basketball team. Although she never played college basketball herself, Dunn’s passion for the sport and persistence helped open the door for countless female athletes who would follow her at UT Martin.
Since her collegiate coaching career began at Austin Peay State University in 1970, she compiled a remarkable 25-year record that includes a .635 career winning percentage at four schools (447-257). She left three of those schools (Purdue, Miami and Austin Peay) as the winningest coach in program history. Coach Dunn is perhaps best known as the architect of the Purdue University women’s basketball program, guiding the Boilermakers for nine seasons (1988-96) and collecting three Big Ten conference titles. She led the Old Gold-and-Black to seven NCAA Tournaments, four Sweet Sixteen appearances and a trip to the Final Four in 1994. In nine years at Purdue, she earned a 206-68 (.752) record and catapulted the school among the elite women’s basketball programs in the country.
Dunn’s first assignment in professional basketball came with a midseason phone call to take over the coaching reigns of the American Basketball League’s Portland Power during its inaugural campaign in 1996-97. She won her first game on the same night she was introduced as the head coach. A year later, Dunn led the Power on a worst-to-first run that culminated with a 27-17 record and a Western Conference championship. The remarkable turnaround earned Dunn the ABL Coach of the Year honor. On the international level, she served on USA Basketball staffs for the 1992 Olympics and 1990 gold medalwinning World Championship and Goodwill Games teams. She was head coach of the 1995 bronze medal-winning USA Jones Cup team and also served for eight years on the USA Basketball Team selection committee. She served as chair of the Kodak All-America Selection Committee from 1982-88 and was president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association in 1984-85.
Dunn was inducted to the Austin Peay State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980 and to the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. She was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in April. Coach Dunn is a former head coach for the WNBA Indiana Fever. She led them to a championship in 2012. Lin is now an assistant coach with the Kentucky Wildcats women’s basketball team. Overall, she owns a 525-350 (.600) record as a college and pro head coach.