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Brittney Ezell has been named the
new head women's basketball coach at the
University of Montevallo. She will
become the twelfth head coach in the
36-year history of the program. She will
succeed Roy Dixon, who left UM at the
conclusion of the 2007-08 season.
Ezell comes to
Montevallo after three years as the head
coach at Okaloosa-Walton College in
Niceville, Fla. She previously spent
five years as the recruiting coordinator
at the University of Alabama.
“We are excited to
welcome Brittney Ezell as our new
women’s basketball head coach,” said
Herlihy. “Her energy and enthusiasm, her
track record as a coach and
student-athlete, and her ties to the
state of Alabama will be big benefits
for our student-athletes as we develop a
competitive program in the Gulf South
Conference.”
As head coach at
Okaloosa-Walton, Ezell posted a 57-28
record (.671), which included an
appearance in the NJCAA Regional
Tournament and 20 wins in 2006. She
developed 14 All-Panhandle Conference
performers and developed 12
student-athletes who signed with NCAA
Division I schools and two others who
signed with NCAA Division II schools.
She also coached two recipients of the
Sandy Miller Award, which is
given to the top female junior college
student-athlete in Florida.
The Lady Raiders
success carried over into the classroom
where 12 student-athletes were named
Academic All-Panhandle Conference during
her tenure. Okaloosa-Walton also
received a national academic award from
the Women’s Basketball Coaches
Association. The 2006-07 Lady Raiders
were a WBCA Academic Top 25 (No.
17) program with a 3.016 cumulative GPA.
Prior to OWC, Ezell
was an assistant coach and recruiting
coordinator at the University of
Alabama, where she helped produce
back-to-back Top 15 ranked recruiting
classes, including the No. 12 nationally
ranked class in 2003-04. She helped
develop four All-Southeastern Conference
guards in Shondra Johnson, Kate Mastin,
Monique Bivins and Navonda Moore. She
also helped to recruit 10 Academic
All-SEC performers. The women’s
basketball guide received a WBCA
Academic Top 25 honor for the
2002-03 season.
Ezell was a
four-year starting point guard for the
Tide, helping lead the team to a 95-34
(.736) record and four consecutive NCAA
Division I “Sweet Sixteen” appearances
from 1994-98. She remains in the Top 20
in career scoring, with 1,022 points and
is second all-time in career assists
(620) and games started (114). She was a
Second Team All-SEC selection in 1998
and was named to the SEC All-Tournament
Team in 1996. In 1998, Ezell was a
candidate for the Francis Pomeroy
Naismith Award, given to the top
point guard in the country and was named
to the inaugural WBCA/Honda All-Star
Game for the nation’s top 20 players.
She also was invited to the WNBA Rookie
Combine in Chicago. Additionally, Ezell
was a two-time Golden Glove recipient
and two-year starter at third base and
shortstop for the UA softball team. She
started at third base for UA’s first SEC
Tournament Championship team in 1998.
She received her
bachelor’s degree in business management
from UA in 1999, and her master’s degree
in education administration from the
University of Nebraska (Lincoln).
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