• As of January 2008

Donovan was an assistant for Van Chancellor and the USA's 2002 World Championship and 2004 Olympic squads that won gold medals.

Calling upon a coach who has been entrenched in USA Basketball for nearly three decades, USA Basketball announced on Jan. 12, 2006, that four-time U.S. Olympic team member Anne Donovan, then-head coach of the WNBA Seattle Storm, will serve as the head coach of the USA Basketball Women's National Team for 2006-08.

In 2007 the U.S. squad got together for several training camps and Donovan started by piloting the Americans to a 4-0 slate in its 2007 Tour of Italy against the Italian National Team and a trio of pro squads in April. Another version of the team regrouped for training at the beginning of Sept. and posted a 2-0 exhibition slate against Australia, while taking advantage of valuable training time.

Following the September training camp, Donovan coached the USA squad to the gold medal, a 5-0 mark and, more important, a berth to the 2008 Olympic Games at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship in Valdivia, Chile.

The USA National Team took a short break as the USA Select Team took on international powerhouse professional teams at the 2007 FIBA World League Tournament in Russia. Blending members of the National Team with other players, the Donovan-led squad posted a 3-2 mark and finished with the silver medal.

The USA National Team capped its ‘07 training with a coast-to-coast college tour. Facing eight teams in 16 days, Donovan and the USA went 8-0 to close the year with an unblemished 19-0 record.

In her major international head coaching debut, Donovan was faced with several challenges in the days prior to the tip-off of the 2006 FIBA World Championship. The USA's inside forces of Yolanda Griffith and Lisa Leslie, who own a combined five Olympic gold medals, withdrew from the squad for personal reasons. Also, three-time Olympian Sheryl Swoopes was hampered by back issues and was never at full strength. Lastly, Donovan's 12-member squad never stepped on the court together until warm-ups for the first World Championship game.

Donovan faced the adversities head-on and coached her young squad to an 8-1 slate, the second best record at the Worlds, and the bronze medal after falling to Russia in the semifinal game.
Prior to the World Championship the USA bested eventual gold medalist Australia 56-49 in an exhibition contest at Duke.

During the spring of ‘06 Donovan guided the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team to a 9-1 record and the 2006 Opals World Challenge title in a series of three training camps. Featuring a total of 26 different players, the camps allowed Donovan and her coaching staff a chance to prepare for the World Championship and evaluate talent.

In all, during her first year at the helm of the USA Senior National Team Program, Donovan led the U.S. to an 18-2 mark, the World Championship bronze medal and the Opals World Challenge title.

Prior to becoming a head coach, in addition to her three Olympic teams (1980-DNC, 1984-gold, 1988-gold) as an athlete, Donovan was on the sidelines as an assistant coach to then-Houston Comets' mentor Van Chancellor in 2004 as the United States earned the gold medal in Athens. Also no stranger to the FIBA World Championship, Donovan was an assistant coach for the 1998 and 2002 gold medal winning USA Basketball squads. She also played on the 1986 USA World Championship Team that toppled the USSR 108-88 in Moscow for the gold medal and the 1983 USA World Championship Team that took silver after losing a close 84-82 battle to the Soviet Union in the gold medal game.

Donovan gets a hug from one of her teammates as the U.S. squad in 1988 celebrates the USA's second Olympic basketball gold medal.

Donovan returned from the ‘04 Games and steered the Seattle Storm to the WNBA crown. In doing so she became the first female coach to head a WNBA championship team.

Having served as an athlete representative on USA Basketball's Executive Committee and chair of the USA Basketball Women's Select Team Committee during the 1996-2000 quadrennium, Donovan has been involved in the USA Basketball organization since 1978 as a player, coach and committee member, and her 2006 World Championship appointment marked Donovan's fifth coaching assignment with USA Basketball and first as a head coach.

Donovan and her teammates share in the joy of the USA's gold medal finish in 1984

In addition to acting as an assistant to Chancellor at the 2004 Olympics, where the team went unscathed through competition at 8-0, and the 2002 Worlds, where the USA finished with a perfect 9-0 mark, Donovan also was on the sidelines both of those years as the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team posted a 16-0 record in exhibition play prior to Athens. And in 2002 the U.S. earned the Australian-hosted 2002 Opals World Challenge title with a 4-0 record. Donovan also aided Chancellor in evaluating the final members of the 2002 U.S. squad during the USA National Team's spring training camp. During that time the red, white and blue earned a 100-59 exhibition victory over the 2002 WBCA College All-Stars in San Antonio during the NCAA Final Four weekend.

In 1998, Donovan served as an assistant coach to Nell Fortner with the USA World Championship Team that captured the gold medal in Germany with an unblemished 9-0 record. Prior to the World Championship, Donovan assisted the U.S. squad to a 12-1 pre-competition record and a pair of tournament titles against national teams from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Slovakia and Spain.

Donovan also assisted Fortner and the 1997 USA Women's World Championship Qualifying Team that went 4-2, earned the silver medal in Brazil and qualified the U.S. for the ‘98 Worlds. During its 13-game pre-com petition exhibition tour of Canada, Germany and Slovakia, Donovan helped the U.S. squad to an impressive 12-1 record.

In all, USA Basketball teams with Donovan on the sidelines have racked up an impressive 93-6 record for a sterling 93.9 winning percentage.

Inducted as a player into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999, Donovan has been a player on a remarkable 11 USA Basketball teams and is one of the most decorated players in USA Basketball history. In addition to the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympic teams and the 1983 and 1986 World Championship teams, Donovan also played on the 1983 and 1987 Pan American Games squads that earned golds, the silver medal winning 1981 World University Games team, as well as the gold medal 1978 and 1979 U.S. Olympic Festival East teams. She started her USA Basketball career as a 15-year-old in 1977 on the inaugural USA R. William Jones Cup Team. All told, of a possible 10 medals, she has captured seven golds and two silvers as a player and posted a 52-7 record for an 88.1 winning percentage.

Donovan took over the reigns of the Seattle Storm in 2003 and led them to an 18-16 record, the most victories in franchise history. In the next two seasons Donovan not only upped the Storm's victory record to 20-14 in each of the last two years, she also piloted her 2004 squad to the WNBA title.

On Aug. 18, 2005, she became the fourth WNBA coach, and first woman, to reach the 100-victory milestone in a contest against the Minnesota Lynx.

Donovan continued to breed success in Seattle, advancing her 2005, 2006 and 2007 Storm teams to the WNBA Playoffs.

Donovan on Nov. 30. 2007, announced her resignation from the Seattle Storm and is currently concentrating on bringing home the gold medal in 2008.

Having completed in 2001 a successful inaugural season with the Charlotte Sting, Donovan parlayed a dismal 1-10 start into an extraordinary WNBA championship runner-up finish to the Los Angeles Sparks. Closing the regular season with an 18-14 record and a fourth place finish in the Eastern Conference, the Sting went on to advance to the WNBA championship after downing the Eastern Conference champs Cleveland and Eastern Conference runners-up New York. She again posted an 18-14 record in 2002, finishing tied for first in the Eastern Conference standings and advanced the Sting to their second consecutive playoff berth.

In 2000 Donovan acted as the expansion Indiana Fever's head coach while Fortner spent the summer preparing for the Olympic Games. Donovan led the Fever to a seventh place finish and a 9-23 record in its maiden season. Donovan began her professional coaching career at the helm of the ABL Philadelphia Rage during the 1998-99 season and led the Rage to a 9-5 start before the ABL folded in December 1998.

Donovan didn't see many players bigger than her on the court. China had one exception, but Donovan still got her blocks in.

Prior to joining the professional coaching ranks, Donovan spent three seasons (1995-96 to 1997-98) as head mentor at East Carolina University (N.C.) rebuilding a Lady Pirates program that had posted a total of only 10 wins in the two seasons prior to her arrival. Under Donovan, ECU bettered that mark in her first year as the Lady Pirates posted 11 wins during the 1995-96 campaign, and in the 1996-97 season East Carolina scored 13 wins and advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament championship game for the first time since 1992. In her final season at ECU, the Lady Pirates advanced to the second round of the CAA Tournament, falling to eventual NCAA Sweet Sixteen participant and Donovan's alma mater, Old Dominion University (Va.).

Also one of the most accomplished players in collegiate women's basketball, Donovan helped guide Old Dominion to a sterling 37-1 record and the AIAW national title as a freshman in 1980. She then went on to lead ODU to an AIAW third place finish in 1981 and to the NCAA Final Four in 1983.

Throughout Donovan's four-year college playing career, Old Dominion compiled a 116-20 record (.853), and she was named the Naismith and Champion Player of the Year in 1983 as well as an All-American in 1981, 1982 and 1983. Donovan finished her playing career at Old Dominion as the Lady Monarchs' all time leading scorer (2,719), rebounder (1,976) and shot blocker (801) and still owns no less than 25 ODU records.

Her accomplishments on the hardwood are still being recognized. On Oct. 24, 2004, Donovan was named by the Sun Belt Conference as its All-Time Women's Basketball Player.

Additionally, Donovan is a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, ODU Sports Hall of Fame and the CoSIDA Academic All-American Hall of Fame.

After college, Donovan spent five seasons playing professionally in Shizuoka, Japan (1983-84 to 1987-88) and one season in Modena, Italy (1988-89), before returning to Old Dominion as an assistant coach for six seasons (1989-90 to 1994-95). With Donovan on the coaching staff, ODU earned four CAA conference titles (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995), five NCAA tournament berths and a record of 115-62 (.650).

Anne Donovan Coaching Synopsis