Women's Basketball

University of California - Santa Barbara

- Santa Barbara, CA - 93106
Team Office: Tel: (805) 893-3370 Fax: (805) 893-8640
Team website: www.ucsbgauchos.com

Founded in 1944, UC Santa Barbara is one of eight schools in the UC system. UCSB offers over 70 Bachelor degrees and over 40 Master's and PhD's. Its Geography, Physics, and Chemistry departments are highly regarded. Other majors offered include Marine Biology, Cinematography, Theatre Arts, International Relations, and Women's Studies. US News 2008 report on America's Best Colleges ranked UCSB #44 among national institutions.

UCSB is located 100 miles north of Los Angeles outside the coastal city of Santa Barbara (pop. 90k). The campus, which is situated along a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is among the most popular UC campuses.

School website
www.ucsb.edu

College Profile

Type:

Public, Co-educational

Religious Affiliation:

None

Enrollment:

20,000

Getting In:

Difficult. SAT 25/75: 1090-1310

Tuition + Room & Board:

In-state: ~$20,000
Out-of-State: ~$38,000

Most Popular Majors

Business - Sociology- Psychology

Misc. Information

Head coach Mark French enters his 21st season at UCSB in 2007-08. Since returning to his alma mater in 1987-88, French has transformed Santa Barbara's women's team into one of the premier programs on the west coast and in the nation. In 1987-88, French inherited a team that only had three winning seasons in its previous 14 years. Though French had losing seasons in each of his first three seasons, he now boasts 17 consecutive winning seasons which has included eleven conference championships, 12 NCAA appearances, while averaging 20 wins per season. In conference play, UCSB has dominated the opposition, losing only 14 league games over the last eight years! Before coming to Santa Barbara, French, a two sport athlete (baseball and basketball) was head coach at Idaho State for four seasons. In 2006-07, the Gauchos posted a 19-14 record and went to the WNIT where they lost in the second round to Oregon.

Team Name	Gauchos
Colors	Blue, White and Gold
Division	NCAA Division I
All-Time Record	563-430 (.566)

Recent Record (Last 8 Years)

	Last Yr	Last Yr - 1	Last Yr - 2	Previous 5 Years
Overall	19-14	16-14	21-9	132-31 (.810)
Conference	10-4	10-4	16-2	75-4 (.949)
Conf. Finish	2	1	1	1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Post Appear.	WNIT	WNIT	1st Rnd	5x
Final 25 Rank	NR	NR	NR	2x

Coaches

Head Coach	Mark French
	Birthday: 0000-00-00
Started at California-Santa Barbara	1987-88
Contract Expires	June, 2008
Record as Head Coach	513-306 (.626)
Record at California-Santa Barbara	415-192 (.683)
Coaching Awards	Big West COTY 7x, WBCA District COTY

Asst. Coaches	April McDivitt, Camille Burkes, Carter Shaw

Recruiting Coordinator

Camille Burkes, (805) 893-5360, camille.burkes@athletics.ucsb.edu

Conference and Schedule

Santa Barbara plays in the Big West Conference (www.bigwest.org) which is comprised of eight teams with all but two located in southern California. The Big West is often considered to be a Mid Major conference. League play begins in late December or early January with most games played on Thursday and Saturday evenings. The Gauchos play a 14 game league schedule, playing each team twice. The season concludes with the Big West Tournament which takes all eight teams. Winner receives an automatic NCAA bid.

Conference Opponents

Cal State Polytechnic (CalPoly), Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach, California: Irvine, California: Riverside, and Pacific. (California: Davis begins conference play in 2007-08) French typically schedules a tough pre-season which has, in the past, included LSU, Purdue, Stanford, Penn State, Georgia, Arizona, and Vanderbilt.

Facilities

Thunderdome
Capacity 6,000, Average attendance (2,300)

Style/Stats

Post-oriented motion offense; incorporates both man and zone defenses.