Joe McKeown

Northwestern University Director of Athletics and Recreation Jim Phillips has announced that Joe McKeown, the head women's basketball coach at George Washington University the past 19 years, has been named the Wildcats' new head coach. McKeown's .745 winning percentage (509-174) ranks 13th among active NCAA women's coaches (minimum five years) and 12th all-time in women's coaching history (minimum 10 years). His 19 20-win seasons are tied for 16th place on the NCAA all-time list. McKeown leaves George Washington as the winningest coach in school history and in the Atlantic 10 Conference. In 22 seasons as a college head coach, McKeown has guided a team to postseason play 19 times. He guided the Colonials to 14 regular season or postseason Atlantic 10 crowns. In his 19 seasons at George Washington, McKeown compiled a 441-154 record, with his 1997 squad reaching the Elite Eight. On three other occasions, the Colonials advanced to the Sweet Sixteen--1995, 2007 and 2008. In his 15 NCAA trips with GW, the Colonials won their first-round tournament game 13 times. McKeown is a five-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (1991, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2007) and two-time National Coach of the Year nominee (1995, 1997).
After spending three seasons as the head coach at New Mexico State, where he went 68-20 and appeared in two NCAA tournaments, McKeown came to George Washington in mid-September of 1989, inheriting a team that went 9-19 a year earlier. After his first squad went 14-14, McKeown quickly turned the Colonials into an elite women's college program with his teams averaging nearly 24 wins per year the next 18 seasons.