Hall of Fame Inductees
- Induction:
- 2014
Basketball Coach, 1986-97
Darsch coached the women’s basketball program from 1986-97, amassing a record of 234-125 in her 12 seasons as head coach. She led the Buckeyes to four Big Ten championships and seven NCAA tournaments, including three “Sweet Sixteen” appearances, one “Elite Eight” and a national runner-up finish in 1993. Darsch also helped lead the USA Women’s Basketball team to gold medals in 1984 and 1996 as an assistant coach.Darsch, a 1973 graduate of Springfield College, mentored three All-Americans during her Ohio State tenure in Tracey Hall (1987 , 1998), Nikita Lowry (1989) and Katie Smith (1993, 1996), three Big Ten players of the year and 10 first team All-Big Ten selections.
Darsch is most remembered as the coach who led Ohio State to its only Final Four appearance in 1993. That season the Buckeyes finished 24-3 in the regular season and 16-2 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes entered the NCAA tournament that year as the No. 1 seed in the East Region, defeating two No. 2 seeds in Virginia in the East Regional final and Iowa in the national semifinal. Ohio State’s dream of a title came to an end, however, at the hands of Sheryl Swoopes and the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 84-82, in the national championship game in Atlanta.
Darsch went on to coach professionally in the WNBA, starting with the inaugural season in 1997 with the New York Liberty, where she coached for two seasons. She led the Liberty to a 36-24 record during her tenure and guided the team to the WNBA finals in 1997. Darsch also coached the Washington Mystics for two seasons (1999-2000) before becoming an advance scout with the team for three seasons. She later joined the Minnesota Lynx as an assistant coach from 2003-2005. In 2006 and 2007 Darsch served as an assistant coach at Boston College.
