Longtime UVA Athletics administrator and 1991 IWLCA National Coach of the Year Jane Miller will be honored on National Girls and Women in Sports Day when the Cavalier women’s basketball team hosts Duke on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.
National Girls and Women in Sports Day brings national attention to the achievements of female athletes and to issues facing girls and women in sport. The event is co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Athletics Department and the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center.
The theme of this year’s event is “Honor the Legacy, Celebrate the Future.”
Miller is a 35-year veteran of the Virginia athletics department as a head coach and administrator. She began her tenure in 1983 as head field hockey and women’s lacrosse coach. She is the winningest coach in UVA’s women’s lacrosse history with a 12-year record of 144-44. She led UVA to six NCAA Final Four appearances and to two national championships (1991 and 1993). She was named NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year in 1991. She has been inducted into six different halls of fame as a player and a coach, including the U.S. Lacrosse National Hall of Fame in 2003.
Miller took on the responsibilities of assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator in 1992 following her successful field hockey coaching career. She remained UVA’s women’s lacrosse coach until 1995, when she ended her coaching career to assume full-time administrative duties.
In December 2014, Miller was the first Senior Women’s Administrator appointed to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, where she participates in the overall governance of NCAA Division I Athletics. Miller also serves on the University Women’s Leadership Council, Calendar Committee, Admissions Committee and Judicial Review Board. She is the chair of the ACC Men’s Lacrosse Committee, and a member of the ACC Women’s Basketball, Women’s Lacrosse and Baseball committees. She has earned numerous prestigious national accolades including the 2014 Administrator of the Year Award from Women Leaders in College Sports.
In addition to the halftime ceremony, there will also be a pregame NGWSD Youth Sports Festival held at John Paul Jones Arena on the upper concourse from 12:30 – 1:45 p.m. (Note: doors open 30 minutes earlier for this game). The festival will include sports stations for youth to visit, including field hockey, golf, rowing, soccer, and volleyball. Youth eighth grade and under completing all of the sports stations will receive a complimentary t-shirt. There will also be face painting, balloon artist, pop-a-shot, Plinko and a chance to meet Virginia student-athletes from several sports. Admission to the festival is free with a game ticket.
Recent honorees at Virginia’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebration include Olympic-gold-medal swimmers Leah Smith and Lauren Perdue, 1993 women’s basketball and 1991 women’s lacrosse teams, philanthropist and two-time women’s volleyball MVP Amy (Mitchell) Griffin, Natalie Randolph (former UVa track standout and varsity football coach at Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C.) and Barbara Kelly (longtime UVa athletics administrator).
New this year for all regular-season home games, available reserved single-game tickets can be purchased for $8 in advance, online and via mobile devices, or for $10 at the John Paul Jones ticket office on game day. General admission single-game tickets are $5 in advance, online and via mobile devices or $8 at the John Paul Jones ticket office on game day. Courtside seats are $15.
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Chris Graham
