BATON ROUGE — LSU women’s basketball head coach Sue Gunter has been selected for induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The announcement of Gunter’s selection was made Sunday at the State Farm Tip-Off Classic in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, which is located in Knoxville, Tenn., is in its second-year of existence.
Gunter, along with 23 other inductees, will join the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame with the formal induction ceremonies in the spring of 2000.
Gunter is in her 18th season at LSU and the 36th overall. In 36 years of coaching at the collegiate level, Gunter has won 588 games, which ranks as the fourth-most victories in women’s basketball history. In addition, Gunter is only 12 wins shy of becoming only the fourth coach in women’s basketball history to win 600 games in a career. Gunter’s overall record stands at 588-266.
In 17 years with LSU, Gunter has led the Lady Tigers to the NCAA Tournament nine times, which includes one Final Eight appearance and four other Sweet 16 berths. In addition, she has been named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year twice. Gunter is the winningest coach in LSU history with 322 career victories with the Lady Tigers. Gunter has also coached eight all-Americans, including a pair of Kodak All-Americans in Joyce Walker and Pokey Chatman, at LSU.
Prior to coming to LSU, Gunter developed Stephen F. Austin into a national powerhouse. In 16 seasons with Stephen F. Austin, Gunter won 266 games and had the Lady’Jacks ranked as high as No. 5 in the final Associated Press poll twice. In addition to her women’s basketball coaching duties at Stephen F. Austin, Gunter also coached the softball, tennis and track teams. Gunter started her coaching career at Middle Tennessee State where she led the Blue Raiders to back-to-back undefeated seasons.
Gunter has also played a vital role in the United State’s success in women’s basketball on the international scene. Gunter was named head coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team. Gunter’s 1980 Olympic Team won the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, however the United States’ boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 kept Gunter and her team from competing. She has, however, had a great deal of success at the international level as she was an assistant coach on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team which captured the silver medal in Montreal. Gunter has also served as head coach of the U.S. National Team three times, in 1976, 1978 and 1980.
Gunter is the first person affiliated with LSU to join the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.