Muffet McGraw has been a fixture of college basketball in the Midwest since 1987. The current head women’s basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame has compiled 584 victories in 22 seasons and led the Fighting Irish to a national championship in 2001. But despite most of her stellar coaching career taking place thousands of miles away, her roots reside in Chester County.
McGraw was born in Pottsville on December 5, 1955 and raised in West Chester. She attended St. Agnes elementary school and graduated from Bishop Shanahan High School in 1973. She went on to Saint Joseph’s University, from which she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1977. McGraw stayed close to home after college, taking a head coaching position at Philadelphia’s Archbishop Carroll High School, where she compiled a sparkling 50-3 record in two seasons.
Following her first foray into coaching, McGraw played for one season with the California Dreams in the now-extinct Women’s Professional Basketball League. She returned to her alma mater in 1980, becoming an assistant coach under Jim Foster at St. Joe’s. She got her big break two years later when she was named the head coach at Lehigh University. During her five years at the helm of the Mountain Hawks, McGraw’s teams posted an 88-41 record.
McGraw became the head coach at Notre Dame in 1987, a year after she was inducted into the Saint Joseph’s Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Upon her hiring, Notre Dame Athletic Director Gene Corrigan said, “If we searched for an entire year, I don’t think we could find anyone better suited for our program.”
McGraw’s accomplishments at Notre Dame are extensive. She has guided the Irish to a national championship, two Final Four appearances, and 19 seasons with 20 or more victories. She also boasts a perfect graduation rate for players who have completed their academic and athletic eligibility at Notre Dame. She is currently 19th on the all-time list among head coaches in career victories, 25th in career winning percentage, and 12th in career 20-win seasons.
The standout head coach was also enshrined in Philadelphia’s Big Five Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989 and the SJU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002. She will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame next year.
Off the court, McGraw teamed up with Bradley University professor Paul Gullifor to write Coaching Success: Muffet McGraw’s Formula for Winning - In Sports and In Life, which was published in 2003. She and her husband Matt have been married for 32 years and have a son, Murphy, who is a student at Indiana University.
