Virginia Names Amaka Agugua-Hamilton as Women's Basketball Head Coach

Agugua-Hamilton spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Missouri State

Matt Newton | Mar 21, 2022

The Virginia women's basketball program has a new head coach.

UVA athletics director announced on Monday morning the hiring of Amaka Agugua-Hamilton as the next UVA women's basketball head coach. "Coach Mox" spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Missouri State, where she led the Lady Bears to a 74-15 overall record and a 46-6 mark in Missouri Valley Conference action.

"We are thrilled and very fortunate to have recruited Coach Mox to UVA," said Carla Williams. "She is a gifted teacher, a skilled tactician of the game and a person who cares deeply about her players and vice versa. Her teams play with tremendous tenacity and confidence. Coach Mox has a reputation for recruiting and developing talent. While these qualities are necessary to build a competitive program, we have been most impressed with Coach Mox as a person. Her integrity, work ethic, passion for education and determination to build something special here at UVA is inspiring."

Agugua-Hamilton replaces Tina Thompson, who was fired on March 3rd after four seasons as Virginia women's basketball head coach. The Cavaliers went 30-63 over those four seasons, including a 5-22 record in the 2021-2022 season.

Agugua-Hamilton's Missouri State teams won two MVC regular season championships and qualified for each of the last two NCAA Tournaments. The Lady Bears advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2020-2021 season. Missouri State likely would have also appeared in the NCAA Tournament in the 2019-2020 season had the tournament not been cancelled, as the team had a 26-4 record in Agugua-Hamilton's first season at the helm, which set a school record for regular season wins. Agugua-Hamilton was twice named MVC Coach of the Year.

"I am overjoyed and thankful for this tremendous opportunity to lead this group of young women at one of the best academic and athletic institutions in the country," Agugua-Hamilton said. "I was immediately drawn in by Carla Williams' vision for the women's basketball program and the athletic department as a whole. I am certain I will thrive under her leadership. As a Virginia native, UVA is a dream come true for me. I could not be more excited to be HOME!"

Agugua-Hamilton attended Oakton High School in Herndon, Virginia and went on to be a four-year team captain on the women's basketball team at Hofstra University, where she holds the record for best career field goal percentage (.551). She began her coaching career at VCU as a graduate assistant and then assistant coach from 2006-2009. Agugua-Hamilton was then on the women's basketball staffs at Indiana (2009-2011), ODU (2011-2013), and Michigan State (2013-2019), spending the last four seasons in East Lansing as the associate head coach. The Spartans were 125-72 over those six years and Agugua-Hamilton also won four games in an interim head coaching role in the 2017 season. She was an integral part of the recruiting process for Michigan State, which brought in four-straight top-35 recruiting classes, which includes the nationally-ranked No. 7 recruiting class in her final season at Michigan State.

Agugua-Hamilton accepted her first head coaching job at Missouri State in 2019 and found immediate and sustained success over the last three seasons. Her Lady Bears picked up nine victories against major conference opponents over the last three years, including wins over Virginia Tech, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, USC, Florida State and Missouri three times.

While there is certainly a substantial uphill battle in store for Agugua-Hamilton to rebuild the UVA women's basketball program, her resume, experience, and success show that she is more than capable of getting the job done.

Welcome to Charlottesville, Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.

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