NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Nikki McCray-Penson spent three years at the head of the Old Dominion women's basketball program, but left a footprint much larger than her tenure with the Monarchs.
McCray-Penson passed away on Friday at the age of 51, Rutgers University confirmed to the Associated Press. The coach was an assistant with the Scarlet Knights last season and her cause of death has not yet been released.
The former Monarch was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 when she was an assistant coach at South Carolina and went into remission later that year. She resigned as the head coach at Mississippi State in 2021 due to unspecified health concerns.
McCray-Penson led the ODU program from 2017-2020, engineering a turnaround that took the Monarchs from an 8-23 season during her first year to a 21-10 record in her second campaign. The team would finish the 2019-2020 season at 24-6, but was stripped of a chance at the NCAA Tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The head coach would depart to take the head job at MSU after the season.
Prior to coaching, McCray-Penson was a star player, becoming a two-time All-American at the University of Tennessee and putting together a decorated WNBA career where she was a three-time All-Star. She also won gold medals at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic games as a member of Team USA.
She transitioned to coaching in 2006, joining the staff at Western Kentucky as an assistant and became part of Dawn Staley's staff at South Carolina in 2008. She would remain there until 2017 when she got a chance to run her own program at Old Dominion.
Click on the above video clips to hear reaction and reflection from current Old Dominion head women's coach Delisha Milton-Jones and athletic director Wood Selig.
