ROCK HILL, SC–Winthrop University announced today the hiring of veteran coach Bud Childers, who is recognized nationally as a program builder, as its new women’s basketball head coach.
"We are excited to have such a successful and experienced head coach as Bud Childers take over the reigns of our women’s basketball program," said Winthrop Athletic Director Tom Hickman. "Coach Childers has been a proven winner at every school he has worked and we believe he will be able to bring that formula for success to Winthrop."
Childers, a 1979 graduate of Charleston Southern University, is the 12th head coach in Winthrop’s women’s basketball history and is also the first male to hold the position. He has amassed nearly 400 career victories in 22 years as a college head coach, including 19 on the NCAA Division I level. He brings an overall record of 385-239 (.617 winning percentage) to his new position. In each of his previous head coaching jobs, Childers has taken over programs with losing records and built them into successful winning programs.
"I look forward to this opportunity and challenge of building a winning tradition in women’s basketball at Winthrop," said Childers. "This university has the potential to be the premier program for women’s basketball in the Big South Conference and I am confident we can build a successful and championship level program at Winthrop."
The 48-year-old Indiana native has never had a losing program in his previous head coaching stints at five different schools. He began his coaching career in 1981 at Cumberland College where he served for two years and led that school to a 49-10 overall record and to the 1983 NJCAA national championship game. He then served one season at Montevallo University in Alabama where his team compiled a 15-13 mark and qualified for the NAIA tournament.
In 1989 Childers accepted his first Division I job at Murray State in 1989. He took over a program that had experienced nine consecutive losing seasons and left five years later with a record of 82-63 with back-to-back 20-win seasons and the school’s first invitation to the Women’s NIT. He took over as head coach at the University of Louisville in 1989 and in eight years became the all-time winningest coach in that school’s history with a 152-88 record. During his first season at Louisville, he led that school to the second biggest turnaround in women’s college basketball and his second Lady Cardinal team set a school record with 24 victories. Childers also coached Louisville to three NCAA tournament appearances and one NWIT appearance. His 1992-93 squad defeated perennial powerhouse Connecticut on the Huskies’ home floor. His
U of L teams also captured the 1993 Metro Conference and 1997 Conference USA championships and he was honored in 1998 as the Conference USA Coach of the Year.
In 1997 he took over a floundering program at James Madison University and in five-plus years there built a program that compiled a 87-65 record and advanced to the 2001 WNIT final four where the Lady Dukes suffered a narrow loss to eventual champion Ohio State. That same season his JMU team ended Old Dominion’s 113-game winning streak in the CAA. He was honored as 2000 Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year.
