Indiana women’s basketball announced the hiring of Linda Sayavongchanh as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Friday afternoon.
The hire comes two weeks after former assistant coach Ashley Williams took a job at North Carolina State University and longtime Hoosier Ali Patberg was named a team and recruitment coordinator for Indiana.
Sayavongchanh will come to Indiana from Creighton University, where she was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for seven years. The Bluejays had a historic 2022 season, upsetting No. 8 seed Iowa to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history and beating No. 10 seed Iowa State University to advance to the Elite Eight.
Sayavongchanh specialized in developing both post players and guards during her tenure at Creighton. She will likely spend time working with key pieces of Indiana’s offense, including senior center Mackenzie Holmes and graduate transfer shooting guard Sara Scalia.
“I am beyond excited to join the Hoosier family," Sayvongchanh said in a press release from IU Athletics. “They are unbelievable coaches, winners, and most of all, great human beings. I'm looking forward to helping Indiana women's basketball continue to be successful, and I can't wait to get to work."
Sayvongchanh spent her collegiate career at Drake University, finishing with 1,129 career points. She was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Defensive team three times and finished her career with 266 steals — second in Bulldogs history.
Sayavongchanh began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota Duluth from 2007-09 before returning to coach at her alma mater from 2009-12. She spent one year at the University of North Dakota before coaching at Saint Louis University from 2013-15.
While at SLU, Sayavongchanh crossed paths with one of Indiana’s current associate head coaches, Glenn Box, who was an assistant coach for the Billikens from 2014-16.
“We are excited to have Linda join our family," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "Her attitude, work ethic and competitiveness will fit right in with our culture here at Indiana."
