The Lynn Bria File
A four-time ASUN Conference champion and Stetson women's basketball's all-time winningest head coach, Lynn Bria enters her 17th season at the helm of the Hatters.
Over the past 16 seasons, Bria has built the Hatters into a force in the ASUN. She has guided the team to three conference championships, two NCAA Tournament appearances, five WNIT bids, eight winning seasons and 10 trips to postseason play.
In the topsy-turvy COVID season of 2020-21, Bria's Hatters made their 10th postseason appearance in 11 years and won just their third-ever NCAA postseason game, a 49-45 win over Loyola-Chicago in the WBI. Newcomer Yazz Wazeerud-Din earned three weekly awards from the ASUN and was named second team all-conference following the regular season.
Bria currently serves as chair of the NCAA Division I women's basketball rules committee, a role she has held since August of 2020.
In 2018-19, Bria earned her 200th victory with the Hatters in a 69-52 win over Liberty on Jan. 8. She also guided the Hatters to a second place finish in the ASUN and the team’s fifth WNIT appearance. Senior McKenna Beach earned first team all-conference honors in a season where she posted a 37-point game against Kennesaw State and recorded a triple-double vs. Lipscomb.
Bria broke the program record for coaching victories with her 185th triumph on Dec. 21, 2017 when the Hatters defeated Texas State 61-54. Earlier, on Nov. 22, she led Stetson to its first win over the Florida Gators since 1988, a 85-71 victory in Savannah.
In a historic 2016-17 season, Bria guided the Hatters to 26 wins and the program's first-ever ASUN regular season championship with a 13-1 league record. Stetson ended FGCU's 75-game ASUN home court win streak on Feb. 25 to clinch the ASUN title and capture the No. 1 seed for the ASUN tournament. The Hatters also made their seventh straight postseason appearance with a berth in the WNIT.
Stetson set single-season school records for highest win pct. (.788), best free throw percentage (.791), and best scoring defense (57.5). The Hatters were also recognized with votes in the USA Today Coaches poll and a No. 10 ranking in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll.
Bria earned ASUN Coach of the Year honors for her efforts in 2016-17. In addition, Brianti Saunders was named ASUN Player of the Year and Sarah Sagerer the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year. Saunders finished her illustrious career as Stetson's all-time scoring leader with 1,975 points.
In 2015-16, Stetson won 20 games for the sixth year in a row despite not having any seniors on the squad. The Hatters also qualified for the WBI and earned their second NCAA postseason victory with a 89-54 win over McNeese State.
Saunders set the school single-game record with 40 points vs. Georgia State, and came within 11 points of tying the single-season scoring record. She was named first team all-conference, while Breana Bey was named second team all-conference and A-Sun Tri-Newcomer of the Year. McKenna Beach was named A-Sun Freshman of the Year.
Stetson posted its fifth-straight 20-win season in 2014-15, compiling a 23-8 record overall. The Hatters won 11 non-conference games for the first time ever, and the 23 wins overall tied for the third-winningest season in school history. Three Hatters were named First-Team All-Conference for the second year in a row, including the league's Defensive Player of the Year Amber Porter.
In 2013-14 and for the third year in a row, the Hatters set a school record for most victories in a single-season with 27. Stetson also won a school-record 16 conference games and won a school record 16 consecutive contests during the regular season. The Hatters also earned their second-ever bid to the WNIT and the program's first-ever NCAA postseason victory, a 70-63 win at Miami on March 20. Stetson had three players named First Team All-Conference, including A-Sun Freshman of the Year Amber Porter.
The 2012-13 season was one for the history books as the Hatters set numerous team records for success and captured their second A-Sun title in the past three seasons. Bria helped lead the Hatters to a school-record 24 wins overall, a 12-1 record at home, a school-record 14 wins in conference play, and winning streaks of 11-straight overall and 16 in a row at home. In the A-Sun Championship game, Stetson rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat top-seeded and previously undefeated FGCU 70-64, and then earned their highest-ever NCAA Tournament seed (14) and an appearance in the Columbus, Ohio, regional against UCLA.
In 2011-12, the Hatters won a school-record 23 games and advanced to the postseason for the second year in a row, participating in the WNIT for the first time in school history. Three players earned All-Atlantic Sun honors including A-Sun Player of the Year and All-Tournament Team selection Victoria McGowan, who led the nation with three triple-doubles. Also honored were Second Team All-Atlantic Sun forward Sasha Sims and A-Sun All-Freshman Team forward Cherisse Burris.
Bria's 2010-11 Hatters won 20 games for the first time in 10 seasons, captured their third Atlantic Sun Conference tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history and the first time since 2005.
Stetson's turnaround under Bria from 6-24 to 20-13 (+12.5 games) was the second-largest improvement in NCAA Division I women's basketball. Honors that came to members of the team included A-Sun Tournament MVP (Victoria McGowan), A-Sun All-Tournament Team (Tierra Brown, Sasha Sims), Second Team All-Atlantic Sun (McGowan), A-Sun All-Freshman Team (Sims), A-Sun Player of the Week (Natasha Graboski) and A-Sun Newcomer of the Week (McGowan twice, Sims). Graboski went on to sign a professional contract with Alexandria of Romania's Division 1 League in the summer of 2011.
In 2009-10, Bria led the Hatters to their seventh consecutive ASUN Tournament appearance. The highlight of the season was a Dec. 16 victory over USC Upstate, which would go on to finish as a 20-win team, that led to forward Jessica Conner receiving A-Sun Player of the Week honors.
In her first season at Stetson, Bria coached the Hatters to eight victories, including the program's first victory against an RPI Top 100 opponent (FGCU, 12/4/08) in the 10 years since online data has been kept. She also made an immediate impact on the recruiting trail, as her 2009-10 incoming class was ranked by Michael T. White's noted scouting service All-Star Girls Report as the best in the Atlantic Sun Conference and in the top third of all NCAA Division I teams.
Bria has served as an assistant coach or head coach for 28 years, with 22 seasons of Division I head-coaching experience to her credit at UCF, Ohio University and Stetson. In addition to coaching, she has extensive classroom experience at the university level and is committed to developing young women both athletically and academically.
Prior to joining the Hatters, Bria spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at top-level programs West Virginia (2006-07) and the University of Miami (2007-08). Her excellent recruiting skills led to the Hurricanes signing a Top 25 incoming class, according to recruiting experts at HoopGurlz.com. With WVU, Bria served as recruiting coordinator in addition to her on-court coaching duties. Her leadership helped the Mountaineers achieve one of their best seasons in school history, which featured an at-large bid to and second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament, as well as the second-largest turnaround in W-L record in Big East Conference history (15-16 to 21-11 overall, and 4-12 to 11-5 in Big East games).
From 1999 to 2006, Bria was the head coach at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She is second all-time in career wins at Ohio and was the first coach in Bobcats history to sign a recruit who would become Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year. Bria’s first-year players earned MAC All-Freshman honors three consecutive years; only seven other players in the 20+ year history of the program had done that. In addition to coaching, Bria also taught a class in the education department.
Prior to taking the position at Ohio, Bria led old Stetson nemesis UCF for three seasons from 1996-99. Her final Golden Knights team in 1998-99 was the TAAC (now Atlantic Sun) regular season and tournament champions and appeared in the NCAA Tournament. For her efforts, Bria was named the 1998-99 TAAC Coach of the Year. In just three seasons, she ranked second in career wins at UCF and was 6-1 against the Hatters.
Bria’s first head coaching position came at Division II Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas for three seasons from 1993-96. At the age of 24, Bria was the fourth-youngest head coach in the country when she was hired. She coached the team, coordinated fundraising and taught in the Kinesiology department in addition to serving on the NCAA Division II Tournament regional selection committee. Her Pioneer squads won more games each year of her tenure than the one previously.
Her first three years out of college at the University of Charleston (W. Va.) were spent on the coaching staffs at Marshall (where she obtained her Master’s degree in 1992) and Radford, where she helped lead the Highlanders to the Big South regular season and tournament titles in 1992-93.
A standout performer for the Charleston Golden Eagles, the Class of 1990 graduate was inducted into her alma mater’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. She scored 1,146 points in her career, averaging 10.3 points per game and was a 75.3 percent free throw shooter over her career.
A member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bria is an avid runner who has completed three marathons. The native of Charleston, W. Va. has had her high school jersey retired by Charleston Catholic High School. She is the chair of the NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee.
