March 31, 2021

THE 2021 AWARD

BOSTON, MA  -- California Baptist head coach Jarrod Olson is the recipient of the 2021 Kay Yow award.

Olson led California Baptist to a 26-1 record, which included a pair of wins in the WNIT. The Lancers finished the regular season with a 14-0 record in the WAC and became the first team since UConn in 2017-18 to complete an undefeated regular season and win their conference tournament in the same season.

CBU is just the fourth school since 1998 to accomplish the feat along with Notre Dame and Baylor.

“The Lancers are easily one of the best stories of the season,” said Angela Lento Vice President of CollegeInsider.com. “Jarrod Olson has had some terrific seasons in his time at California Baptist, but this season was historic.”

The Lancers had four players receive All-Conference honors, with Nicole Avila-Ambrosi, Caitlyn Harper, Ane Olaeta and Britney Thomas all recognized and Olaeta was named WAC Player of the Year. They helped the program to a No. 5 ranking in the final regular-season Mid-Major Top 25®.

College Insider pays tribute to one of the true icons of women’s college basketball with the Kay Yow Award, which is presented annually to the Division I women’s head coach who embodies a winning spirit while displaying great character, on and off the court.

Yow, who lost a long battle with cancer in 2009, became the sixth head coach in the history of Division I women’s basketball to reach the 700-win plateau, finishing with a sterling record of 737–344 in her 34 seasons at NC State.

She was the first women’s coach in ACC history to eclipse 600 wins at the same school and directed NC State to 19 top-three finishes in the ACC standings. Her 1997-98 squad advanced all the way to the Final Four in Kansas City.

She was wildly successful in every forum in which she coached, leading gold medal winners at the 1981 World University Games, the 1986 Goodwill Games, 1986 World Championship Games and the 1988 Olympic Games.

As an assistant, Yow was on the Olympic gold medal winning 1984 coaching staff in Los Angeles. In addition, she was an assistant on the gold medal-winning teams at the 1979 World University Games, the 1983 Pan American Games and the 1984 R. Williams Jones Cup.