Karen Barefoot is an American basketball coach. She recently was head coach for the UNC Wilmington women's basketball team. Barefoot is the first basketball player to record 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career for any NCAA division, male or female.

Karen Barefoot
Playing career
1991–1995Christopher Newport
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1995–2001The Apprentice School
2001–2005Lenoir–Rhyne
2005–2008Old Dominion (assistant)
2008–2011Elon
2011–2017Old Dominion
2017–2022UNC Wilmington
Head coaching record
Overall356–272(.567)

Playing career

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Barefoot, a Newport News, Virginia native,[1] played high school basketball at Menchville High School, earning Most Outstanding Player honors from Peninsula Sports Club four times.[2] She received scholarship offers from several colleges but chose to remain close to home and attended Christopher Newport University along with Sharon, her twin sister.[3]

During her career at Christopher Newport, playing under coach Cathy Parson, she helped the team to three NCAA tournament invitations. In her freshman year the team made it to the Sweet 16. She earned Kodak/WBCA All-America honors during her career and was named the All–USA South Atlantic conference player of the year twice.[4] She continued her domination of the Peninsula Sports Club honors, winning the most outstanding player award four times during her college career.[2] She was the national leader in assists in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 among Division III schools, amassing a total of 1002 assists in her career still the only Division III player to record over 1000 assists in a career.[5] In addition to her assists records, Barefoot is the first basketball player to record 2000 points and 1000 assists in a career for any NCAA division, male or female.[2]

Barefoot was inducted into the Christopher Newport University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.[2]

Christopher Newport statistics

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Source[6]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MIN  Minutes  MPG  Minutes per game
 PTS  Points  PPG  Points per game  RBS  Rebounds  RPG  Rebounds per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  Field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points PPG FG% 3P% FT% APG BPG SPG
1991 Christopher Newport 27 441 16.3 52.1% 18.2% 72.2% 9.8 - -
1992 Christopher Newport 28 546 19.5 43.2% 34.6% 69.9% 8.1 - -
1993 Christopher Newport 28 457 16.3 45.5% 22.9% 70.8% 8.4 0.0 4.6
1994 Christopher Newport 25 629 25.2 42.4% 26.0% 76.6% 10.9 0.0 5.2
Career 108 2073 19.2 45.1% 25.9% 72.6% 9.3 0.0 2.4

Coaching career

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After completing her playing career and graduating, she formed the first ever athletics program for women at The Apprentice School, Located in Newport News, Virginia in 1995. She served as head coach for six seasons, culminating in a 24–3 record and a national championship in the National Small College Athletic Association.[1] She was named the NSCAA National Coach of the Year in both 1999 and 2001.[7]

In 2001, Barefoot moved to Lenoir Rhyne, a division II school in Hickory, North Carolina. she remained there for four years, recording double-digit wins in each year, and tying for first place in the South Atlantic Conference in 2004.[8]

After four years there, Barefoot accepted a position as assistant coach under the legendary Wendy Larry at Old Dominion. She was very familiar with the ODU program because she had attended many games with her father and grandfather. She had a favorite player — Nancy Lieberman— in whose honor Barefoot chose to wear number 10 as a player number at Christopher Newport.[9]

After three years as an assistant coach at the Division I level, Barefoot was invited to become the head coach of Elon. The first year turned out to be challenging as the team only won five games. In her third season, the team won 20 games the best results ever for the school as a Division I team and reached the quarterfinals of the WBI.[10]

In 2011, Wendy Larry left Old Dominion after 24 seasons and the school reached out to Barefoot to become the new head coach.[11] Barefoot remained at Old Dominion for six seasons, which included three invitations to the WNIT and advancement to the second round of the WNIT in 2014 and 2015.

In 2017, Barefoot was named coach of the UNC Wilmington women's basketball program.[12]

Head coaching record

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Sources:[2][13][14]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
The Apprentice School (USCAA independent) (1995–2001)
1995–96 Apprentice 12–2
1996–97 Apprentice 13–12
1997–98 Apprentice 15–8
1998–99 Apprentice 16–11 4–1 NSCAA Third Place
1999–00 Apprentice 23–5 5–2 NSCAA Fourth Place
2000–01 Apprentice 24–3 4–0 NSCAA National Champions
Apprentice: 103–41 (.689) 13–6 (.684)
Lenoir–Rhyne (South Atlantic Conference) (2001–2005)
2001–02 Lenoir–Rhyne 19–9 9–7
2002–03 Lenoir–Rhyne 18–12 7–7 T-3rd
2003–04 Lenoir–Rhyne 17–11 11–3 T-1st
2004–05 Lenoir–Rhyne 16–12 9–5 3rd
Lenoir–Rhyne: 70–44 (.614) 36–22 (.621)
Elon (Southern Conference) (2008–2011)
2008–09 Elon 5–26 2–18 11th
2009–10 Elon 12–19 6–14 T-7th
2010–11 Elon 20–13 12–8 4th WBI Quarterfinals
Elon: 37–58 (.389) 20–40 (.333)
Old Dominion (Colonial Athletic Association) (2011–2013)
2011–12 Old Dominion 11–21 7–11 T-8th
2012–13 Old Dominion 19–12 10–8 T-4th WNIT First Round
Old Dominion: 30–33 (.476) 17–19 (.472)
Old Dominion (Conference USA) (2013–2017)
2013–14 Old Dominion 18–16 9–7 T-6th WNIT Second Round
2014–15 Old Dominion 21–13 11–7 T-4th WNIT Second Round
2015–16 Old Dominion 17–17 10–8 5th
2016–17 Old Dominion 17–14 11–7 6th
Old Dominion: 73–60 (.549) 50–29 (.633)
UNC Wilmington (Colonial Athletic Association) (2017–present)
2017–18 UNC Wilmington 12–19 4–14 T-8th
2018–19 UNC Wilmington 18–12 11–7 T-3rd
2019–20 UNC Wilmington 10-20 6-12 8th
2020–21 UNC Wilmington 3–5 0–2
UNC Wilmington: 43–56 (.434) 15–23 (.395)
Total: 356–272 (.567)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ a b Press, JENNIFER L. WILLIAMS Daily (15 August 2001). "BAREFOOT LEAVES THE APPRENTICE SCHOOL". dailypress.com. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Karen Barefoot Biography". odusports.com. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  3. ^ Evans, Jon (2 October 2017). "Karen Barefoot: Bringing new excitement, and 313 wins, to UNCW ("1on1 with Jon Evans" podcast)". www.wect.com. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  4. ^ "UNCW Names Barefoot New Women's Hoops Coach". UNC Wilmington Athletics. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  5. ^ "Division III Women's Basketball Records" (PDF). Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Women's Basketball Finest" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  7. ^ "Karen Barefoot - Women's Basketball Coach". Elon University Athletics. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  8. ^ "Past success lurks in Old Dominion's shadows -- Hoops Across America". espnW. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
  9. ^ Johnson, Dave. "For Karen Barefoot, ODU milestone is particularly meaningful". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
  10. ^ "Karen Barefoot - Women's Basketball Coach". Elon University Athletics. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  11. ^ "Past success lurks in Old Dominion's shadows -- Hoops Across America". espnW. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  12. ^ Evans, Jon (2 October 2017). "Karen Barefoot: Bringing new excitement, and 313 wins, to UNCW". www.wect.com. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  13. ^ "Conference USA - Record Book through 18-19" (PDF). www.conferenceusa.com. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
  14. ^ "Conference Standings". caasports.com. Retrieved 2019-07-27.