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Kevin McGuff enters his sixth season in charge of the Xavier University women's basketball program after leading the Musketeers to a 26-8 record, an Atlantic 10 Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. XU posted an 11-3 mark in A-10 play and recorded its third consecutive 20-win season in 2006-07. McGuff has led XU to national postseason play in each of his first five years in Cincinnati including a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and the 26 wins during the 2006-07 campaign were tied for the second most in program history. The 2006-07 squad sprinted out to a 12-4 mark in non-conference action and recorded wins over teams from the ACC (N.C. State), the Big 12 (Kansas), the BIG EAST (Cincinnati) and the SEC (Auburn, Florida). The Musketeers fought through a brutal stretch in the schedule and posted a 16-7 mark on February 2 only to win the last seven games of the regular season and all three Atlantic 10 Championship contests to secure XU's sixth NCAA Tournament berth. McGuff, who has tallied a 106-50 (.679) record in his five years at XU, led the Musketeers to their third consecutive 20-win season during the 2006-07 campaign. In fact, Xavier has won at least 20 games in four of McGuff's five years as head coach and the program has reached the 20-win plateau in seven of the last nine seasons. Expectations are high once again for the 2007-08 season as McGuff returns a talented young group which will be joined by yet another highly-touted recruiting class. The 2005-06 squad charged out to a 9-2 non-conference record, the team's best mark since the 2000-01 season, which included wins at Auburn, vs. Cincinnati and vs. Florida State. The Musketeers won eight of their last nine games to end the regular season and traveled to Philadelphia as the No. 4 seed, earning a first-round bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, but fell to Saint Joseph's in the quarterfinal on the Hawks' home floor.
The 2004-05 season saw Xavier start the season with a 1-3 mark. The three losses came at Florida State, vs. Auburn and to a nationally-ranked Maryland squad at home. The Musketeers would recover though, winning 10 of their next 12 games and finished the regular season with three straight wins to take home the school's second A-10 Regular Season Championship since XU joined the league prior to the 1995-96 season. The Musketeers marched into postseason play with some momentum and defeated UMass in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament to advance to their seventh A-10 semifinal in the last eight years. However, Xavier lost its semifinal matchup with 16th-ranked and eventual champion Temple. Coach McGuff reached an individual milestone during the 2004-05 season. He recorded his 50th career win vs. Dayton on January 27 and became the fastest coach in Xavier history to reach the 50-win plateau. McGuff registered his 50th career win in his 78th career game, outpacing the previous record of 92 games established by Melanie Balcomb. The 2003-04 Musketeers sprinted out to an 8-3 record and notched early season wins at Louisville and Kentucky. XU would lose four of its next five games though before mounting a six-game winning streak; all against A-10 opponents. After falling to Temple in the A-10 quarterfinal, Xavier would end its season with a 77-65 loss to Miami (Ohio) in WNIT first round action. The Kevin McGuff era for the Xavier women's basketball team began with an impressive turnaround. The rookie campaign for the Musketeer head coach ended with another 20-win season and NCAA Tournament for the Xavier women's basketball program. Arriving in June 2002, McGuff inherited a Xavier team that was 12-19 the previous season. The McGuff-led Musketeers quickly showed this was a new team with a gritty win on the road at Pepperdine to open the season. XU used good defense and strong rebounding to earn the win over the Waves, and the wave of success for Xavier was just beginning. The good start to the McGuff tenure continued as Xavier won seven of its first eight games. The success continued when the Atlantic 10 season began. Xavier went 11-5 in league play, placing second in the A-10 West before advancing to the conference tournament semifinals for the sixth year in a row. McGuff and the Musketeers were rewarded for their season with a berth to the NCAA Tournament, Xavier's fourth NCAA appearance in the last five years. At the end of the year, McGuff had led Xavier to a 20-10 record. The turnaround from XU's 12-19 season the previous year was the largest among the 55 teams who had new coaches in 2002-03. McGuff was one of just three first-year head coaches to lead a team to the 2003 NCAA Tournament. In addition, only seven teams advanced to the NCAA tournament with a coach who was in their first year at that school. Success is something that has been a constant throughout McGuff's coaching career. He's been working the sidelines in some capacity at some level for 13 years, and each one of those seasons has resulted in a winning record. McGuff came to Xavier after six years as an assistant at Notre Dame. The Irish were 160-39 (.804 winning percentage) in his tenure. In addition to winning the 2001 NCAA Championship, Notre Dame advanced to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament in all six of his years there. The Irish reached the Sweet 16 four times during his tenure and the Final Four twice. Prior to joining the staff at Notre Dame, McGuff spent three years at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The RedHawks were 54-30 during his tenure while he coordinated all the scouting efforts, assisted with the internal and external operations of the program and served as director of the summer camp basketball program. In 1992-93, McGuff served as an assistant girls basketball coach at his alma mater, Hamilton Badin High School, while the Rams went 25-1 and were district champions and the regional runner-up. McGuff played basketball at St. Joseph's (Ind.) College from 1988-92. As team captain his senior year, he led the Pumas to the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II tournament. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration while majoring in marketing at St. Joseph's and earned a master's of science in sports studies from Miami (Ohio). The 36-year-old McGuff lives in Cincinnati with his wife Letitia and two daughters Kilyn (4) and Keiryn (2).
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