Coach Niele Ivey's name is nearly synonymous with those of three of her star players (Olivia Miles, Hannah Hidalgo, and Sonia Citron) this year, and she's called Notre Dame home ever since accepting the women's basketball head coach position in 2020 — but years ago, Ivey's home was the Indiana Fever.
Ivey was drafted by the Fever as the 17th overall pick in the second round of the 2001 draft. She started 26 of her 32 games that season — and did so while pregnant with her son, Jaden, who now plays for the Detroit Pistons. Before she joined the Fever, Ivey played for Notre Dame for five seasons and rejoined the team as Muffet McGraw's assistant coach after her professional career ended.
Niele Ivey helped lead the Fever to the playoffs
Ivey spent a total of four seasons with the Fever and was part of the team that brought Indiana to the playoffs for the first time in 2002. The team almost made it back in 2003, when the Fever missed the playoffs by one game. Ivey had her most productive season that year and averaged 5.0 points per game.
Two years later Ivey joined the Detroit Shock as an unrestricted free agent and played 12 times before she was waived. The Phoenix Mercury picked up the guard after that, and she made 14 appearances for the team before she decided to hang up her hat and retire from the court. Ivey finished out her WNBA career with 408 points, 94 steals, 228 assists, and 90 3-point field goals.
Niele Ivey and Muffet McGraw were an unstoppable duo
Ivey has since found tremendous success in NCAA basketball and the NBA as a coach. She joined Muffet McGraw's staff as an assistant coach in 2011 and helped steer the team to the Final Four seven times between 2011 and 2015 and 2018-2019. She joined the Grizzlies as an assistant coach for one season before returning to Notre Dame to pick up where McGraw left off.
At the time, the school's Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said Ivey was the only person they considered for the role, and Ivey herself tearfully thanked McGraw for her guidance over the years. "To Coach McGraw...I’m here because of you...You believed in me," she said at the time.
"And I’m just going to hit the ground running today. I'm going to reach out to those that I think will help this program and again I’m just going to rely on those relationships that I built and created when I was here."