Alan LeForce
	Position: Head Women's Basketball Coach Alma Mater: Cumberland College, 1957

Alan LeForce enters his 15th season as head women's basketball coach at Coastal Carolina University and has made his mark as one of the most respected, experienced and successful coaches in the Big South Conference. From a second-place Big South finish in his inaugural year at Coastal Carolina to a magical run in the BSC tournament in 2001-02 to a team that pulled off another tournament upset in 2003-04, the 1998-99 Big South Coach of the Year has been a driving force in developing a program that is ready to take the next step.

LeForce made college basketball history in 2004-05 when he won his 100th game at Coastal Carolina Nov. 30, 2004 against UNC Wilmington. LeForce is the only head coach to accumulate 200 wins as a Division I men's and women's head coach and has 100+ wins at the public high school level, the private high school level and in the men's NAIA level.

After being honored by Cumberland College, LeForce is now a member of four Halls of Fame. He was already a part of the College of Charleston, East Tennessee State University and Williamsburg High School Halls of Fame.

LeForce has 50 years of coaching experience and has an overall record of 441-375 as a collegiate head coach, including a 202-196 record at the helm of the Chanticleers.

During the 2010-11 season LeForce won his 200th game as a Chanticleer by defeating Presbyterian 47-34 on Feb. 5. LeForce's 2010-11 squad featured two of the most dominate Chants in recent memory in Katie White and Sydnei Moss. During the season White set the Coastal all-time blocked shots record, the single season blocked shots record and single game blocks record. White was also named the Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned the prestigious Big South George A. Christenberry Award for Academic Excellence. Moss scored 332 points (12.3 per game) to lead the Chants and become the eighth most prolific scorer in Coastal Carolina history with 1,329 career points.

Alan LeForce is the only coach in NCAA history to win 200-plus games at both the men's and women's Division I level.

Under the direction of LeForce, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers finished the 2009-10 campaign with a 17-13 (7-9 Big South) record. The winning record was the fifth in a row for Leforce and the fifth consecutive season of wining at least 16 games. The 2009-10 squad, who opened the season winning seven of their first nine games, also defeated Charleston Southern in the Big South Tournament to advance to the semifinals where they fell to eventual conference runner-up Gardner-Webb. In addition, LeForce coached Big South Defensive Payer of the Year Amanda Stull. Stull also amassed Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year and ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America awards.

In the 2008-09 season LeForce accumulated another milestone when he earned his career 400 win against over Erskine, 65-49. He directed the Chanticleers to a 6-1 start and an 8-8 conference record. LeForce led the Chanticleers above the .500 mark with a 16-14 overall record.

LeForce guided the Chanticleers to the best start in program history in 2007-08, winning seven games straight. The previous year, he led his squad to an 18-11 overall record and 9-5 record in the Big South, good for a tie for fourth place with UNC Asheville. The 18 regular-season wins was the most by Coastal Carolina women's basketball since becoming a Division I program. LeForce coached Alisha Dill, who was named the Big South Player of the Year while ranking sixth in the nation by averaging 22.5 points per game. Dill became the Second Big South Player of the Year coached by LeForce, joining Brooke Weisbrod (1997-98). He has also coached three players selected to the Big South All-Freshman Team. Coastal Carolina's defense was once again its strong point, as the Chanticleers finished 21st in the country, giving up 56.1 points per game.

Coastal Carolina was one of the most improved teams in the nation in 2005-06, going 18-10 with a third-place finish in the Big South Conference. That 8 1/2 game turnaround was 17th best in the country. Coastal Carolina defeated Birmingham-Southern in the quarterfinal of the Big South Tournament before falling in a nailbiter to High Point in the semifinals. The Chants had two Second Team All-Big South members (Kim Turner and Alisha Dill) and had three players (Turner, Dill and Amber Rose) average over 11 points a game. Coastal Carolina once again excelled on defense, leading the league in turnover margin and steals while holding its opponents to 57 points per game.

In 2003-04, LeForce guided Coastal Carolina to a 13-15 record and a sixth-seed in the Big South Conference Tournament. The Chanticleers went into High Point and the Big South Quarterfinals as the underdog, but pulled out a 68-62 upset over the third-seeded Panthers, giving LeForce seven wins in BSC Tournament play. LeForce coached Nikki Reddick, who was named to the All-Big South Conference First Team for the third straight season and ended her career as Coastal Carolina's all-time leading scorer. The Chanticleers also went 8-5 at Kimbel Arena and were among the league leaders in scoring offense and three-point field-goal percentage.

LeForce led the Chants to a 13-15 overall record and a 6-8 record in the Big South in 2002-03, advancing to the semifinals of the Big South Tournament before falling to top-seed Liberty. The Chants had a 7-5 record at Kimbel Arena, including a thrilling 96-94 triple-overtime win over Radford.

The 2001-02 season could have been one of the most memorable in LeForce's career. With only nine healthy players to finish the regular season, the Chants tied for sixth place in the conference and earned the seventh seed for the Big South Tournament. However, Coastal Carolina got hot in the tournament, upsetting second-seeded Elon, 66-64, in the quarterfinals and sixth-seeded Winthrop, 58-56, in the semifinals before falling to top-seeded Liberty in the championship game.

During the 2000-01 season, with only three players with previous Division I experience, LeForce led his young squad to a 14-13 record. Coastal Carolina finished second in the Big South and boasted the school's first ever Big South Player of the Year in Brooke Weisbrod.

The 1999-2000 squad continued the program's improvement with a 20-10 overall record and a second-place finish in the Big South. The 20 victories again topped the list for most wins since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1986 and was the first time a Coastal Carolina team reached the 20-win plateau since the 1982-83 team garnered 21 wins.

LeForce earned Big South Coach of the Year honors in 1998-99 as he led Coastal to a second-place finish and an 18-10 record. Coastal Carolina also came within one game of making the NCAA Tournament before losing to Liberty in the tournament's championship game.

The foundation of a strong Chants program began in LeForce's first season. Even though the team posted a 9-18 record, Coastal Carolina placed third in the Big South Conference after being picked to finish last in the conference preseason poll. LeForce's first recruiting class included the Big South Rookie of the Year in Weisbrod.

LeForce has won on every level in his 50 years of coaching. From 1990 to 1996, he served as head men's basketball coach at East Tennessee State University. In that six-year span, the Buccaneers posted a 100-74 overall record and his .574 winning percentage is the highest in the school's history for coaches with at least four years at ETSU. He led the Bucs to two Southern Conference regular-season co-championships, two Southern Conference Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances. In his first season as head coach, he directed the Bucs to a 28-5 record and a spot among the nation's top-20, rising as high as #10 in the Associated Press poll. In the 1992 NCAA Tournament, ETSU knocked off the University of Arizona in the first round before falling 102-90 to eventual national runner-up University of Michigan in the second round. The victory over the Wildcats was the biggest upset of the first round of that year's NCAA Tournament and marked the first time a school from the Southern Conference had advanced past the first round of the tournament in a decade. LeForce was named the 1991 District Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). During his tenure at ETSU, LeForce coached seven All-Southern Conference players including Greg Dennis and Keith "Mister" Jennings, who also was named to the SoCon's 75th Anniversary Second Team. Before serving as head coach at ETSU, LeForce was an assistant coach with the Bucs for four seasons. Following the 1996 season, he resigned as ETSU's coach to accept an assistant director of athletics position at the school. This past winter, LeForce was inducted into the East Tennessee State Athletics Hall of Fame.

LeForce began his coaching career in 1958 at his alma mater, Williamsburg High School in Williamsburg, Ky. He coached there from 1958 to 1961 and from 1963 to 1967, taking the 1961-62 year off to serve as an assistant coach at Cumberland (Ky.) College, his college alma mater.

From 1968 to 1971, LeForce served as an assistant coach at Furman University. He became head coach at the College of Charleston in 1971. During his nine-year stint in Charleston, the Cougars ranked among the top teams in NAIA competiton. He compiled a 132-110 record and posted five straight winning seasons. His 1975 Cougar squad won a then-school record 21 games. He also was the school's director of athletics for seven years while he was there.

It was at this point in his career that LeForce came to Myrtle Beach and accepted the head coaching and athletics director positions at Coastal Academy. In five years, he led the boy's basketball team to two South Carolina Independent School State Championships and an impressive 125-15 record. In 1985, he moved to Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and coached the boy's program at East Cooper High School for one season before accepting his assistant's job at ETSU.

LeForce is married to the former Shirley Smith of Williamsburg, Ky. The LeForce's have two children, Jeff and Michelle. Jeff and his wife, Joy, have four children: two daughters, Allie and Abigail, and two sons, Austin and Andrew. Michelle and her husband David have a daughter, Kathryn.

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