Marynell Meadors honored as Title IX Pioneer at OVC Honors Luncheon
The Ohio Valley Conference held a luncheon recently to cap off a year-long celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Title IX, and former Tennessee Tech women's basketball coach Marynell Meadors was one of the women recognized at the event.
Shown in photo, TTU Director of Athletics Mark Wilson
presents Marynell Meadors with a commemorative plaque at the OVC
Honors Luncheon.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Ohio Valley Conference held a luncheon
recently to cap off a year-long celebration of the 40th Anniversary
of Title IX, and former Tennessee Tech women's basketball coach and
Sports Hall of Fame inductee Marynell Meadors was one of the women
recognized at the event.
Each of the OVC's 12-member institutions identified a pioneer in
women's athletics from their school to be honored during the year
and celebrated at a home athletic event on their campus.
Nine of those honorees were in attendance at the DoubleTree Hotel
in downtown Nashville to be honored as part of the OVC Spring
Meetings.
“The OVC has a rich history of women’s athletics along
with a bright future thanks to the commitment, passion and
contribution of the trailblazers the conference is honoring as part
of its Title IX celebration.” said Beth DeBauche, OVC
Commissioner. “It is important to take time to appreciate the
progress that has been made on the playing fields and in the
classrooms as a result of the adoption of Title IX and commit to
ensuring students of either gender are not subject to any sort of
discrimination under any education program or activity.”
Meadors established the tradition-rich women's basketball program
at Tech and led her team to more than 350 wins in 16 seasons. She
has been inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the OVC
Hall of Fame and the TTU Sports Hall of Fame.
Raised in Nashville and a graduate of Hillsboro High School,
Meadors decided in the seventh grade her future was coaching
women’s basketball. Following graduation from high school,
she attended Middle Tennessee State University and there began
coaching women’s basketball before it became a varsity sport
and prior to Title IX. In 1970 following the passage of Title
IX, she moved to Cookeville and became the women’s head
basketball coach at Tennessee Tech University. She coached the
Golden Eagles for twenty seasons, compiling a 363-138 (.724)
lifetime record. While coaching at Tech, she won six consecutive
Tennessee state championships and four Ohio Valley Conference
championships. She was twice named Ohio Valley Conference Coach of
the year and became the first major women’s college coach to
win 350 games at one institution.
In 1986, Meadors accepted the head coaching position at Florida
State University where she led the program for 10 years. In 1991,
the Seminoles won the Metro Conference Championship and advanced to
the second round of the NCAA.
Meadors also served as head coach and general manager of the
Atlanta Dream of the Women’s National Basketball Association
and was one of the original eight head coaches when the WNBA was
formed in 1997.
