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UNLV Women's Basketball Camp Kathy Olivier Former Lady Rebel Kathy Olivier became the eighth head coach in UNLV history on April 22. Olivier comes back to Las Vegas after spending the past 15 years as head coach at UCLA. "I'm really excited for this opportunity," said Olivier. "UCLA's been very good to me, and the job at UNLV was the only one that would have gotten me back into coaching. I am thrilled to come back to my alma mater." At the helm of the Bruins, she guided the team to five appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 1999. Olivier also coached UCLA to a Pac-10 regular season championship in 1999, and to the Pac-10 Tournament title in 2006. Her 1999 squad finished the season ranked No. 7 in the nation in the USA Today poll, which was the highest ranking in school history, and the team posted six top-four finishes in the Pac-10 over her last 11 years. As the Bruins' head coach, two of her players were named Kodak All-Americans and Pac-10 Players of the Year, including Pac-10 Athlete of the Decade Natalie Williams. In 14 of her 15 years at UCLA, the Bruins had a first-team Pac-10 All-Conference selection. Known as an outstanding recruiter, Olivier also saw three of her players earn Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors. She spent a total of 22 seasons at UCLA, first beginning as an assistant coach for the Bruins from 1986-1993. Prior to joining the UCLA staff, Olivier served on the Southern Cal coaching staff for three seasons (1983-86). While at USC, Olivier coached three Olympians and one National Player of the Year in Cheryl Miller. The Trojans won the 1984 national championship and were national runner-ups in 1986 during her time at USC. She began her coaching career at UC Irvine, where she was an assistant coach from 1982-83. The former Kathy Ricks, Olivier began her college playing career at Cal State Fullerton in the 1977-78 season, where she averaged 15.6 ppg as a freshman, and 19.3 ppg in her sophomore season. She then transferred to UNLV, where she earned Honorable Mention honors from the American Women's Sports Federation in 1979-80, after scoring 16.3 ppg and leading the Lady Rebels to a 22-8 record. She finished her career at UNLV with 975 career points in just two seasons, which ranks 20th all-time on the school's career scoring list, and her 20.2 ppg average as a senior in 1980-81 is 10th-best all-time as well. Oliver then remained with the Lady Rebels for the 1981-82 season as a graduate assistant, and received her bachelor of science degree in physical education in 1982 from UNLV. Olivier has one daughter, Alexis, who was a sophomore on the UCLA team this past season. |
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