Aggie
Women's BasketballWOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACHING STAFF
Patricia Cage-Bibbs · Tarrell
Robinson ·
Freddie Murray ·
Erica Handy-Cousar
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Patricia Cage-Bibbs entered coaching to help her alma mater Grambling State University put its fledgling women’s basketball program on secure ground. Twenty-three years later she is partly responsible for helping the fledgling sport of women’s basketball flourish. More specifically, she helps it flourish at the historically black college and university level. Bibbs’ commitment to being the best raises the level of competitiveness among her opponents. Bibbs’ excellence first made Southwestern Athletic Conference better through parity and now the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has become better by her presence.
This season the 23-year coaching veteran will likely be rewarded for her hard work by becoming the 38th or 39th (Texas’ Gail Goestenkors has 396 career wins going into the season) college women’s basketball coach to win 400 games. Bibbs comes into the 2007-2008 season with 397 career wins. She has won 63 percent of the games she has coached and owns a 74 percent winning percentage when she faces a conference opponent.
Bibbs took over the women's program at N.C. A&T in March of 2005, and immediately raised the expectations for a program that has not won the MEAC since the 1993-94 season. She won nine games her first season, and then nearly doubled that win total in her second season by leading the Aggies to a 17-13 record and a second-place finish in the conference with a 12-6 record. The Aggies second-place finish in 2006-2007 was the school’s highest in 12 years. The 17 wins were the most wins since the program has had in 10 seasons.
Under the guise of her "never say quit" and relentless "Pressure Cooker" (full court press for the entire game) attitude, she has won nine conference championships, made six NCAA Tournament appearances and has 10 regular-season conference championships. In 13 seasons of coaching in the SWAC as the head coach of Grambling, Bibbs went 138-44 against SWAC opponents, won six conference championships and seven regular-season titles. In seven seasons at Hampton, she went 95-31 in the conference, won three tournament championships and two regular-season championships.
Including her time at N.C. A&T, she has won 116 MEAC games. She also has 10 20-win seasons during her career and has finished below .500 just four times in 22 previous seasons.
The defensive-minded Bibbs also put some offense into the equation with her newly formed "Fun and Run" offense that is not afraid to shoot the ball between 90 to 100 times per game. Bibbs’ Hampton teams led the conference in scoring twice and finished in the top three in scoring four times. In 2006-2007, the Aggies led the conference in scoring and had the conference’s leading scorer on the team in Amber Bland.
Before coming to N.C. A&T, she established Hampton University Women's Basketball as a MEAC Power from 1997-2004. In just her first season as head coach at Hampton University, Bibbs took the Lady Pirates basketball program into uncharted waters.
She inherited a young team consisting of five starting guards and guided them to a 1997-98 MEAC regular season Co-Championship honors with an overall record of 22-7 (16-2 MEAC). In that same season, the Lady Pirates finished as the MEAC Tournament Runners-Up, falling to Howard University, 78-70. During the 1998-99 campaign, Bibbs implemented her own philosophies and tactics into the Lady Pirates basketball program.
She began by making a move that would all those who were looking in with doubtful eyes. Bibbs elected to face three nationally ranked opponents, including national powers Duke, North Carolina and Vanderbilt. On the season, Bibbs proved to the nation that Hampton University could play and win against anyone as they finished with an 18-10 overall record, while catapulting to their second MEAC regular-season title.
Before coming to Hampton University, Bibbs served as the head women's basketball coach at her proud alma mater of Grambling State University in Grambling, La. During her 13-year tenure with the Lady Tigers program, Bibbs led the Lady Tigers program to 244 victories. Out of the six SWAC titles she won at Grambling, three of them came within a four-year span. In 1996-97, Bibbs became the first coach in SWAC history to lead a team to an undefeated season (15-0) throughout conference play. In what is unmistakably an illustrious career as a collegiate head women's basketball coach, Bibbs has compiled an overall record of 397-238, along with eight Coach of the Year (seven SWAC / one MEAC) awards in 20 years, just missing another possible MEAC Coach of the Year honor for the outstanding 2002-03 season with Hampton.
But to truly understand the coaching career and where it started for Patricia Cage-Bibbs, you must first go to the source of it all. Bibbs' coaching career began with successful high school stints in her home state of Louisiana. She began at Ruston High School in 1974, where she stayed three years with the Bearcats program. In 1977, she moved to Dubach High School where she completed a six-year stay. During her six years at Dubach, Bibbs led the Hornets to six state playoff appearances.
Perhaps her finest moment came in 1983 when she led the Hornets to the Louisiana State Championship, on their way to setting two Louisiana state records-at the time-for most points scored in tournament play. Her exceptional leadership earned her the 1981 and 1983 Louisiana High School Coach of the Year award.
Patricia Cage Bibbs is a native of Choudrant, Louisiana. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Health and Physical Education from Grambling State University in 1972. She later went on to receive a Master's Degree in Sports Administration from Grambling State in 1974.
She is happily married to Ezil Bibbs, a former professional football player with the New York Giants. Together, the two own two successful car rental dealership in Louisiana. They are the proud parents of two daughters, Sabrina and Satin. Bibbs also has two beautiful granddaughters via Sabrina, Dezireé and Kiana.