Legette-Jack signs contract extension

UB and women’s basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack have agreed to a new five-year contract, Director of Athletics Mark Alnutt announced today. The contract runs through the 2023 season.

“I want to thank President Satish Tripathi and Director of Athletics Mark Alnutt for believing in me and for giving me the opportunity to continue to lead the charge here at Buffalo,” Legette-Jack said. “We have an incredible group of six young ladies coming in next season and we hope that the community will continue to jump on board and springboard us forward on our journey. Today is a great day.”

Legette-Jack led the Bulls to their most historic season in program history in 2017-18 as they collected their first NCAA Tournament victories while advancing to the Sweet 16. After earning their first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Bulls concluded their historic campaign with a program-best 29-6 overall record and a 16-2 MAC mark.

Following their Sweet 16 run, the Bulls closed out the season ranked 21st in the nation, their first national ranking in school history. Under Legette-Jack’s tutelage, the Bulls have produced five straight winning seasons and three straight 20-plus win campaigns for the first time since joining the MAC in 1998-99.

Under Legette-Jack's watchful eye, the Bulls also had their best year inside the classroom in 2017-18, as the team posted a 3.46 cumulative GPA while also placing a program-record seven student-athletes on the Academic All-MAC team. Senior Katherine Ups became the first UB student-athlete since 2000-01 to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team honors following her successful senior campaign.

“I’ve been very impressed during the short time that I’ve been here with our women’s basketball program under Coach Legette-Jack’s leadership,” Alnutt said. “This program is excelling not only on the court but in the classroom, and is highly involved with giving back to the community. With Coach Legette-Jack at the helm, our program is in very good hands and I see more successes in these key areas of the student-athlete experience. I look forward to working with Coach for a long time.”

The Syracuse, N.Y., native also helped lead UB to its first-ever MAC Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance during the 2016-17 campaign when Stephanie Reid hit a buzzer-beater to down Central Michigan.

“We started this amazing journey six years ago with the hopes of changing how this women’s basketball program was viewed,” Legette-Jack said. “This season, we were able to realize some of our goals by reaching the Sweet 16 and having so many players achieve academic excellence. I am humbled and thrilled that Buffalo has granted me the opportunity to continue this journey.”

Legette-Jack has posted a 119-76 career record at UB during her six seasons at the helm, the second-most wins by a coach in program history. Under her guidance, the Bulls are the only team in the MAC to win 19-plus games in each of the past four seasons.