North Florida parts ways with women's basketball coach Darrick Gibbs

Darrick Gibbs has been fired as the University of North Florida women's basketball coach after eight seasons and three winning records.

Gibbs received the news Thursday and met with his team, the day after the Ospreys lost their final game of the season, 83-71 at home to Eastern Kentucky.

UNF (7-20, 5-13) did not qualify for the ASUN tournament for the only time under Gibbs' direction. The conference took only the top-10 of the 14 teams and the Ospreys finished 12th.

The Ospreys were 95-138 (.407) under Gibbs, 50-76 (.397) in the ASUN.

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"I truly appreciate the opportunity to be part of the Osprey family," Gibbs told the Times-Union. "It's been a definite joy for me and my family. I thought we did some really good things during the course of my time in building the program. It's unfortunate that the last couple of years hasn't been up to par. But my experience here has been great. I feel for the young ladies still in the program."

UNF athletic director Nick Morrow said Gibbs’ record was a large part of the decision but not the only factor.

“Rarely will our decisions come down to just wins and losses,” Morrow said. “We’ve taken more of a holistic approach to the program. Wins and losses are a large variable but I just don’t think things were going well overall. … from recruiting to the roster.”

Morrow cited the high number of transfers in recent years. Nine underclassmen from last year’s team left the program and five played at other teams this season, Marissa Mackins (Eastern Kentucky), Peryonna Sylvester (Florida A&M), Nubia Benedith (Louisiana), Ally Knights (Hofstra) and Summah Evans (Mercer).

Mackins scored 12 points for Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday.

Morrow said the decision was not reflective of anything more than wanting a different direction for the program.

“This was extremely difficult,” Morrow said. “I’ve known Darrick for eight years and considered him a friend.”

Gibbs, a native of Pawley's Island, S.C., who had been an assistant coach at Miami for 10 years, was hired in 2015 to replace the only coach UNF had ever had, Mary Tappmeyer, who coached the team over the first 23 years of its existence.

UNF went 30-61 in his first three seasons, but then put together three winning records in a row. It was capped by a 14-11 mark in 2020-21, and the Ospreys' highest ASUN finish under Gibbs, third place with an 11-5 record.

Gibbs also produced UNF's first WNBA draft pick, forward Jazz Bond.

But UNF went 20-38 in the last two years. The 2021-22 season was a huge disappointment, with UNF returning nine players from their third-place ASUN team of the previous season.

UNF beat Jacksonville at home on Jan. 28 but went 2-7 after that, with one of the victories a forfeit over Central Arkansas.

Gibbs helped produce six postseason all-conference honors, 11 ASUN Players of the Week, 17 ASUN Newcomers of the Week and three ASUN Freshmen of the Week.

Gibbs also coached at least five ASUN Honor Roll recipients per season, three ASUN All-Academic selections, two College Sports Information Directors of America/College Sports Communicators Academic All-District laurels and the program's first-ever ASUN Scholar-Athlete honoree in Rhetta Moore.

The school said a national search to fill the position will be undergone immediately. Morrow said success at the mid-major level would be a more important consideration than at Power Five conference, for example.

“Our new coach needs to have been part of a successful program at our level, work hard to have good recruiting connections and have a positive energy,” Morrow said. “And they have to have done it at our level. Power Five is great but at our level you have to work harder with the resources you have.

Gibbs, who also coached on the college level at Charlotte, the College of Charleston and Wofford, said he had no immediate plans.

"Right now I'm trying to figure it out," he said. I'll discuss with my family and see what works best."

Gibbs and his wife D'Erica had three children.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Darrick Gibbs fired after eight seasons as UNF women's basketball coach