Her journey has taken her from Kentucky to Texas, Tennessee to Indiana, and finally here to Boca Raton. From her days as a standout player at Eastern Kentucky, FAU women’s basketball coach Chancellor Dugan has taken a long road to coaching success.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Dugan was a three year starter at Eastern Kentucky University where she led the team in rebounding and was the second leading scorer in her junior and senior year. During her playing days at EKU, Dugan would try to model her game after ex-NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon.
“I definitely played like Hakeem Olajuwon, and I tried to watch him as much as possible,” says Dugan. “I really liked his turnaround jumper.”
Dugan experienced success at Eastern Kentucky as a player in the early 1980’s and it was her coach who inspired her growth in the game of basketball as a player and later as a coach.
“My first college coach, Diane Murphy, really influenced me the most,” says Dugan. “She was a very hard-nosed and old-schooled [coach] who really taught the fundamentals of defense.”
At that time there was no professional basketball league for women who wanted an opportunity at the next level. Coaching was the next best outlet for players who wanted to stay close to the game. Dugan explored that alternative and landed her first coaching job at George West High school in George West, Texas.
Dugan felt overly confident in the opportunity because of her playing experience at Eastern Kentucky.
“I was really young and thought I knew everything out of college,” says Dugan.
It was a learning experience for the aspiring coach.
“The number one thing is that I didn’t know everything, and that’s always a humbling aspect of your life” says Dugan. “You think you know it all, but you really don’t. Because when you get out of college you have definitely inflated self worth. When you get out and get a job you’ll find out really quickly that you need to learn a lot more than what was taught in college.”
Ultimately the lesson she learned was the importance of communication with players.
“It was about me understanding the game of basketball and teaching it,” Dugan says.
After leaving Texas, Dugan had various stops as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama, Morehead State University and her alma mater Eastern Kentucky. Then in 1992, Southern Indiana hired her.
“Every stop that I had was a learning experience, either positive or negative,” she says. “
In her first year the team struggled, finishing 8-20, but as an assistant athletic director, Dugan took a chance on a little known head coach named Bruce Pearl. That hire changed how the men’s and women’s programs interacted with each other, and she formed a solid relationship with Pearl.
“When he got there he really wanted the men’s and women’s program to be united in front.” Dugan says. “We did basketball clinics together and speaking engagements.”
Dugan felt more capable and ready to teach the game because of her experience at Southern Indiana. Pearl has moved on to become the men’s basketball head coach at the University of Tennessee.
“It was a smaller school, an environment that I was ready to learn how to teach the fast paced game that I wanted to teach,” says Dugan. “It was a great experience for me.”
Her successes at Southern Indiana paralleled the team’s four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament. But she didn’t do it alone.
“The biggest thing you’ve got to have is great assistants that are willing to do the little things and to make the program better,” she says. “They really did a great job.”
Current FAU assistant coach Shannon Litton was with Dugan at Southern Indiana from 1994-1999. Dugan praises Litton because she serves as a calm presence on the sideline.
“Shannon is a very outstanding basketball coach,” says Dugan. “She knows the game of women’s basketball very well.”
In the 2005-2006 season both Dugan and Litton were part of history as FAU finished with a 20-11 record overall and 16-4 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, capturing the conference title and most notably advancing to the NCAA tournament.
“I was really nervous because we didn’t start off as well. I tried to enjoy it, and once we got into conference play then I started to really enjoy it a little bit more,” Dugan says. “It was a season when our backs were against the wall and we needed to win, which we did.”
One of the players and significant recruits made by Dugan was Shontavia Williams who averaged 16 points per game and was named to the first team in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
“She worked extremely hard and did everything I wanted her to do,” Dugan says
“I was really proud of her that she understood what we needed her to do.”
That season was very special not only for the women’s program but for the FAU community. Dugan saw the importance of this and how FAU has benefited from that season.
“I think it was big for FAU obviously it was the first time that we have ever been to the NCAA tournament.” Dugan says. “We are one of the few that has ever been there, and our goal is to get back there every year.
Overall Dugan has had a lot of achievements in her coaching career from the NCAA tournament appearance to her 200th victory as FAU head coach, but those accolades don’t mean a thing to her – the success of her players is what is most pleasing.
“You coach because you love the sport of whatever you’re coaching, and I love basketball” says Dugan. “You want to impart your knowledge on a group of ladies, and when they go out and are successful that’s a little bit of me having a little bit of influence on what they’re going to do.”
