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On July 1, 1999, Chancellor Dugan became the third head coach in Florida Atlantic women's basketball history. Seven-consecutive conference tournament berths later, she guided the program to its pinnacle, garnering the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1993. Dugan led FAU to the top in 2005-06, when the Owls claimed their first Atlantic Sun Conference Championship. Her squad went 20-11 on the year - the best win total in 13 seasons - and recorded its best season in the A-Sun, going 16-4 and finishing second in the regular season. The Owls were second-to-none in the A-Sun tournament and moved on to face SEC power LSU in the first round of the San Antonio Regional. Florida Atlantic made its presence felt against the Tigers, holding the lead midway through the first half before succumbing to the eventual national semifinalist. Prior to Dugan's arrival, no FAU team had posted a winning record in A-Sun play. Now, as the Owls head into the Sun Belt Conference for 2006-07, they have had winning records three times and winning conference records five times under Dugan. Over the past three seasons, Dugan's teams have been among the top-scoring units in the A-Sun, finishing second in 2005-06 at 68.4 points per game. In addition, an Owl has received all-conference honors each season, highlighted by 2005-06 senior Shontavia Williams being named to the First Team. Williams, who earned Second Team honors in 2004-05, was the marquee player during Dugan's first seven seasons on the bench. A four-year starter, she finished her career as the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,466 points. In 2002-03, Williams became the third rookie Owl in four years to receive All-Freshmen honors as Dugan's squad won 12 of its final 16 regular season games. In 2001-02, Dugan guided the team to a 17-14 season. The Owls reached the A-Sun championship game for the first time since 1996 and came within two points of their first trip to the NCAA Tournament under her direction. In addition, FAU led the A-Sun in scoring and turnovers forced while finishing with a positive turnover margin for the first time in 13 years. The 2001-02 team tied for second in the A-Sun with a 13-7 record. The season included a conference road record of 7-3, an FAU best that was tops among A-Sun teams that season and matched by the 2005-06 squad. Two recruits landed by Dugan prior to that season made immediate impacts with one securing First Team All-Conference honors and the other A-Sun All-Freshmen honors. In 1999-2000, Dugan's first at FAU, the Owls set several team records, including the biggest one-year improvement by winning 10 more games overall than the year prior. Their 15-14 record was FAU's first winning season at the Division I level. FAU's 12-6 record in the A-Sun was its best since joining the conference and included a nine-win improvement that was the biggest turnaround in A-Sun history. FAU also had a winning record in A-Sun road games for the first time, going 5-4. Dugan's success at FAU should be of no surprise based on her eight years as head coach at the University of Southern Indiana. There, she became the school's winningest coach with 159 wins and a winning percentage of .685. Fan interest in women's basketball soared during her tenure, as USI finished in the top 10 for Division II attendance three-consecutive years and averaged a record 1,453 fans in 1996-97. From 1994-98, Dugan's teams posted an incredible 100-16 record (.862) and won at least 22 games each of those seasons. That included back-to-back seasons with two losses each. The 1996-97 Lady Eagles went 30-2 and advanced to the national championship game. The following year saw USI go 26-2 and reach the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-consecutive year. The 1996-97 team won a school-record 29 straight games and went 20-0 in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play. That season Dugan led the Lady Eagles to their first appearance in the Elite Eight and subsequent trip to the national championship. In 1997-98, USI was ranked no. 1 most of the year before finishing fourth. In 1994-95, Dugan, who also served as an assistant athletic director, led the Lady Eagles to a series of firsts. That squad had the best record in the program's history (22-5); made its first appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament; claimed its first GLVC title; ranked in the NCAA top 20; and had a 16-game winning streak. No strangers to the national poll, the 1994-95 squad was ranked as high as no. 3, while the 1995-96 team climbed into the late-season rankings. In 1996-97, the Lady Eagles were ranked third. With the program's national reputation and annually difficult schedule, Dugan's teams were regulars among the top 30 from 1994 to 1998. Dugan was selected GLVC Coach of the Year in 1997 and 1998, a span in which USI was a combined 56-4 overall and 37-1 in conference play. She led her team to GLVC regular-season titles in 1995, 1997 and 1998. USI won the GLVC's inaugural postseason tournament in 1998. After losing eight top players from that 1997-98 squad, Dugan used one senior and 13 underclassmen to post a 19-12 mark in 1998-99 while playing a schedule ranked in the top five nationally. During her time at USI, she coached one National Player of the Year, three All-Americans (selected five different times), four GLVC Players of the Year and nine All-GLVC players (selected 16 different times). Dugan's success is even more pronounced when the pre-Dugan era is considered at both FAU and at USI. In the three seasons before Dugan became head coach in 1991, USI went a combined 11-72 (Dugan averaged 20 wins per season for eight years). Before Dugan, USI had never won more than 16 games in a season (Dugan's teams won at least 17 for six consecutive seasons). Under Dugan, FAU has averaged 14 wins in seven years; in the previous six seasons, the Owls averaged nine wins. Florida Atlantic's average of 11 conference wins in the Dugan era came after the team had never won more than eight A-Sun games in a single season prior to her arrival. The Louisville, KY, native graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education and received a master's degree from Morehead State University in 1989. While an undergraduate at EKU, Dugan was a three-year starter and finished her junior and senior seasons as the team's leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. Upon graduation, she took the head coaching job at George West High School in George West, TX, where she guided the team to a 56-30 record in three years. She also served as an assistant coach for Eastern Kentucky (1989-91), Morehead State (1986-89) and the University of Alabama (1985-86). Dugan is a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
The Dugan File
Birthplace: Louisville, KY
Year-by-Year Coaching Record
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