Indiana women's basketball hires Linda Sayavongchanh as assistant coach
Indiana women's basketball has a new assistant coach.
Linda Sayavongchanh has joined Teri Moren's staff as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, the program announced Friday. Sayavongchanh comes to Bloomington from Omaha, where she spent spent seven years in the same roles for Creighton. Her first official day with the Hoosiers was June 1.
Sayavongchanh fills the opening vacated by Ashley Williams, who returned to North Carolina State after two seasons as IU's assistant coach.
“I am beyond excited to join the Hoosier family,” Sayvongchanh said in IU's press release. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Moren and her staff. They are unbelievable coaches, winners and most of all, great human beings. I’m looking forward to helping Indiana women’s basketball continue to be successful and I can’t wait to get to work.”
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This past season, Sayavongchanh helped Creighton reach with Elite Eight. The Bluejays upset IU's Big Ten foe Iowa in Iowa City to reach the Sweet 16. Creighton reached three NCAA Tournaments in Sayavongchanh's time in Omaha. The Bluejays won first round games in 2017 and 2018 before falling in the round of 32.
Prior to Creighton, Sayavongchanh spent two years as an assistant coach at Saint Louis. She started her career at Minnesota-Duluth as a graduate assistant in 2007 for two years, then took an assistant coaching job at Drake in 2009. She coached at North Dakota for the 2012-13 season before joining the Billikens.
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Sayavongchanh has no prior connection to Indiana. However, she worked with IU associate head coach Glenn Box for one season, 2014-15, at Saint Louis.
She enjoyed an illustrious playing career at Drake from 2002-06, earning three All-Missouri Valley Conference honors and three MVC All-Defense selections. Sayavongchanh finished her career second in Bulldogs program history with 266 steals. She scored 1,129 career points at Drake.
"We are excited to have Linda join our family,” Moren said in the press release. “Linda has a proven track record of recruiting, developing, and coaching winning players. She has achieved great success at Creighton including last season’s Elite Eight run. Her attitude, work ethic and competitiveness will fit right in with our culture here at Indiana.”
Sayavongchanh has an existing relationship with one of IU's top recruiting targets in 2024 four star guard Britt Prince from Omaha. Creighton extended Prince her first Division I offer in 2020, before her freshman year at Elkhorn North High School. IU offered Prince on an unofficial visit in June 2021.
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Sayavongchanh now has the longest last name of any current IU coach, in any sport. She's tied for the second-longest last name in the entire athletic department — only swimming and diving director of operations Sarah Stockwell-Grigson tops Sayavongchanh.
Follow Herald-Times sports reporter Seth Tow on Twitter @SethTow, or email him at stow@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU women's basketball hires Linda Sayavongchanh as assistant coach
