CULLOP NAMED NEW WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH

Tricia Cullop was introduced today as the new head women's basketball coach at The University of Toledo. The recently named Missouri Valley Conference "Coach of the Year" comes to UT after eight seasons as head coach at Evansville where she had a 123-110 record and led her 2007-08 team to the regular season title.

"I am so excited to be here and be a part of a program that has such a strong tradition," Cullop said. "I'm very familiar with the coaches that have been here and the players that have strongly represented this program. "

Cullop said that it was bittersweet leaving her players at Evansville, but at the same time exciting knowing that she will be part of building something very special at Toledo.

She said that she was impressed with the UT, and that as a recruiter it will be easy to sell the beautiful campus to high school players. "As a head coach, you want to be able to sell a great gym, and Savage Hall will be that," she said. "Players in this area, players in this region, players in the Midwest need to come to this campus because it's going to be hard to turn down."

Cullop was a four-year letterwinner at Purdue where she was part of three NCAA Tournament teams, and was team captain her senior year. She was also a three-time academic All-Big Ten selection.

She began her coaching career as an assistant at Radford University and then had stops at Long Beach State and Xavier before becoming the head coach at Evansville in 2000. She took over a program that hadn't had much success and won17,16,19 and 21 games in her final four seasons.

Toledo has five scholarship openings, and the spring signing period has already started. Cullop said that it would be reasonable to sign two or three players, but that she wouldn't bring someone in just to fill a scholarship. According to her, a recruit has to care about academics, have a winning attitude and have the athleticism to help the team win.

AD Mike O'Brien said that Cullop's intensity is what impressed  him. "She is tireless and is totally committed to The University of Toledo. I talked to other administrators about her, and many said, "If you don't get her, I'm going to"."

Cullop said that hiring her staff will be the most important thing she has to do. But she will take her time to get it right, because she wants her team to be surrounded by people that really care about them and will teach and inspire them.

As far as her coaching style, Cullop said that she likes to run and press. Her last two teams were either first or second in the MVC in steals. She wants to put a lot of points on the board, but will look at the returning UT players and  initially play to their strengths.