April 11, 2011
Watch introductory press conference for Bobbie Kelsey
STANFORD, Calif. - Bobbie Kelsey, a four-year assistant coach who helped guide Stanford to four straight Final Four appearances, was named the women's basketball head coach at the University of Wisconsin on Monday.
"We are thrilled for Bobbie and for the opportunity she has earned at Wisconsin," said Stanford's Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball Tara VanDerveer. "Bobbie has done an outstanding job here at Stanford over the past four years and truthfully it is bittersweet to see her leave. I know that she will continue to do a fine job in Madison, and we wish her the absolute best."
Kelsey's appointment to the top job in Madison makes her the sixth women's basketball head coach in Wisconsin history. It is also Kelsey's first head-coaching job, and follows stops as an assistant at Stanford (2007-11), Virginia Tech (2004-07), Western Carolina (2002-04), Evansville (2000-02), Florida (1998-2000) and Boise State (1997-98).
Kelsey's appointment also makes her the sixth former Stanford player of VanDerveer's to join the collegiate head coaching ranks. She joins Jennifer Azzi (San Francisco, 2010-present), Molly Goodenbour (UC Irvine, 2008-present; Chico State, 2006-08), Katy Steding (Werner Pacific, 2001-08), Trisha Stevens (Boise State, 1996-2002) and Lindsey Yamasaki (San Francisco Academy of Art, 2008-present) in the club.
Kelsey, a four-year letter winner and 1992 national champion with the Cardinal (1991-96) as a student-athlete, returned to The Farm in 2007 as an assistant coach.
Over Kelsey's four years on the Cardinal coaching staff, Stanford posted an overall record of 137-14 (.907), a 69-3 mark in Pac-10 play and pulled off the Pac-10 "double" (winning the regular season and tournament titles) each season.
She played a key role in the development of the Cardinal defense and post players. Over the past three years, Kelsey's work with the defense resulted in the Cardinal setting new program records in such categories as lowest opponent scoring average, lowest opponent field-goal percentage and rebounding margin.
The past three seasons have produced Stanford's top three lowest opponent scoring averages in program history, highlighted by a program-best 53.9 opponents' points per game. After the 2010-11 Cardinal limited opponents to just 55.5 points per game, the program has now recorded four of the five lowest totals during Kelsey's time with the program.
From the field, opponents have shot the two lowest percentages in Stanford history in each of the past two seasons and four of the seven lowest during Kelsey's tenure. In 2009-10, opponents shot a program record-low 33.9 percent from the field, and that figure was beaten in 2010-11 as the Cardinal defense limited foes to just 33.6-percent shooting.
On the boards, the Cardinal's rebound margins of +13.2 (2008-09), +11.8 (2009-10) and +11.6 (2010-11) in each of the past three seasons rank first, second and third, respectively, on the program's single-season record book.
Kelsey's work with Cardinal guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude peaked when the Stanford guard enjoyed a career year in 2009-10 in which she was named Pac-10 Co-Defensive Player of the Year and recognized as one of the nation's top defenders.
Additionally, Kelsey's contributions to the coaching of Stanford's post players has helped yield four State Farm Coaches' All-America selections for Jayne Appel (2009-10) and Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2010-11). The dual selection of Appel and Ogwumike in 2010 marked the first time in program history that Stanford boasted two State Farm Coaches' All-Americans in a single season.
As a Cardinal student-athlete, Kelsey was a member of three Final Four teams (1992, 1995-96), winning a national title in 1992. A Cardinal co-captain in 1995 and '96, she was twice voted the team's Most Inspirational Player (1992, '96) and named the team's Most Improved Player in 1993. She graduated with her B.A. in communication in 1996.