Hokie ClubMegan Duffy was named the eighth head women’s basketball coach at Virginia Tech, Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced on April 3, 2024.
A proven winner, Duffy has averaged 22 victories per season as a head coach, boasting an impressive 70% winning percentage. She has led her teams to the postseason in seven of her eight seasons at the helm, including in her inaugural campaign in Blacksburg. The cornerstone of Duffy’s success in year one at Virginia Tech was her commitment to player development. Several players made significant strides in performance throughout the season, highlighted by Matilda Ekh and Rose Micheaux who continued their basketball journeys professionally after graduation.
That development translated into on-court success as the Hokies won 19 games, including defeating previously undefeated and thirteenth-ranked Georgia Tech. Duffy also guided the team to nine ACC wins, the most for a first year Virginia Tech head coach, earning the eight seed at the conference tournament in Greensboro. The season concluded with an appearance in the WBIT.
In 2024-25 Carys Baker blossomed into one of the best young players in the country, averaging 12.6 points per game and 6.3 rebounds in her sophomore season, tripling her scoring output from a year earlier. Under Duffy, she lead the team in minutes played while showcasing impressive efficiency, shooting 46% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc. She posted 23 games of 10 or more points, three 20-point performances and recorded two double-doubles. Baker increased her numbers in ACC play averaging 14.1 ppg. and 7.3 rpg. while shooting better than 48% including a 44.4% mark from deep.
Duffy’s focus on player development was also evident in the progression of Carleigh Wenzel, who led the team at 14.0 points per game her redshirt sophomore season after just 4.2 points per game the year before. Wenzel scored 20 or more points four times throughout the season and recorded two double-doubles. She led the Hokies in assists with 117, including two double-digit assist performances. Another athlete who excelled in ACC play, Wenzel’s numbers improved against the best competition, averaging 15.3 ppg throughout the 16-game conference slate.
Mackenzie Nelson also saw drastic improvement under the tutelage of former point guard, Duffy. She finished her freshman season seventh in the conference in assist to turnover ratio, serving as a steady presence at the point for the Hokies.
In the post, senior forward Rose Micheaux produced the best season of her career highlighted by recording just the second triple-double in program history with a 19-point, 14-rebound and 10-assist performance against Elon. Micheaux started every game she played under Coach Duffy and saw her scoring average soar from 4.1 the year prior to 12.2 points per game her senior season. Micheaux led the Hokies in rebounds at 7.4 and had the third-best shooting percentage in the conference at better than 58%.
Prior to Virginia Tech, Duffy guided Marquette University to the NCAA tournament in 2024, after spending five years in Milwaukee where she accumulated a 110-46 record that included a 64-30 mark in BIG EAST play.
Duffy’s head coaching career now spans eight seasons, five at Marquette, two at Miami (Ohio) and the 2024-25 season at Virginia Tech. Her resume features six seasons of 20 or more wins – leading to an impressive career record of 173-79 (.686). She has reached the postseason in every year that she has led a program.
In five seasons at the helm at Marquette, Duffy owned the best winning percentage of any coach in that program’s history at 70.5% (110-46). During Duffy's tenure, the Golden Eagles made four postseason appearances, including three trips to the NCAA tournament, and earned a pair of runner-up finishes in both the regular season and BIG EAST conference tournament.
Marquette had a notable beginning to the 2023-24 season with the best start in program history at 12-0. The Golden Eagles were one of 10 teams in the country to go undefeated in nonconference play, including winning the Fort Meyers Tip-Off with two wins over Power Five foes – defeating Boston College and Arkansas. She also guided MU to a win over Illinois and her squad earned a ranked victory over No. 20 Creighton.
Under Duffy’s leadership, nine different athletes garnered All-BIG EAST accolades, including the first duo to collect first team nods in the same season from Marquette in Jordan King and Chloe Marotta.
Other highlights of her tenure in Milwaukee include becoming the fastest coach in Marquette history to the 100-win mark, owning the most road wins in a season in program history, securing the most home wins in a single season in program history and defeating multiple AP top five foes in the same season (No. 3 Texas and No. 4 UConn in 2022-23).
Duffy was a four-year letterwinner at Notre Dame (2002-06), helping the Irish to four straight NCAA appearances and two Sweet 16 berths. She is one of six players in school history to total at least 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals.
The Dayton, Ohio, native has translated her extensive playing career, which included All-America selections (finalist for national player of the year awards), USA Basketball participation (Gold medalist) and professional experience in the WNBA (Minnesota and New York) and overseas, into success in the coaching ranks.
Duffy arrived at Marquette after leading Miami (Ohio) to a pair of WNIT appearances during her two-year tenure with the program. Miami finished the season with a 23-9 overall record and a 13-5 Mid-American Conference mark in 2018-19 and reached 20 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1980s.
She was one of just four rookie head coaches in 2017-18 to collect at least 20 wins and the only female to accomplish the feat. The RedHawks finished 21-11 that season, the largest improvement in the nation from the previous season in terms of total victories (nine more than 2016-17, 12-21). Duffy guided the program to a 44-20 (.687) record during her two years, making her the winningest active coach in the MAC at the time.
Under Duffy’s tutelage, Miami produced two all-conference performers, while the team’s successes carried into the classroom as well. Miami had a program-high eight student-athletes tabbed Academic All-MAC and the RedHawks were named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Honor Roll in 2018 after earning the sixth-best team grade-point average in the nation among all Division I schools.
Prior to her time in Oxford, Duffy owns stops at BIG EAST school St. John’s (2009-12, assistant coach), George Washington (2012-14, associate head coach) and Michigan (2014-17, assistant coach). She helped lead each of the three programs to the postseason (seven total appearances), highlighted by a trip to the Sweet 16 with the Red Storm in 2012 and the WNIT title with the Wolverines in 2017.
Duffy graduated from Notre Dame in 2006 with a double degree in psychology and computer applications. She is married to Kevin Hoyng.