RHONDA FARNEY

HEAD COACH RHONDA FARNEY

In her 29th year as Georgetown High School head basketball coach and girls’ athletic coordinator—Coach Rhonda Farney led Georgetown to its 26th state playoff appearance, making back-to-back 4A State Tournament appearances in 2013 and 2014 and the Elite Eight the past two year. In the past six years, the Lady Eagles have brought home silver, gold, and bronze medals, respectively.

More than 66 players whom Farney coached have gone on to play collegiate basketball, and more than 48 who played for her are either coaching or preparing to enter the coaching profession. She has lectured at numerous Texas basketball clinics as well as basketball clinics from Alaska to Florida.

Farney graduated summa cum laude—still a teenager at the time—from Howard Payne University, then coached basketball and track and taught English at Goldthwaite High School and Ozona High School for the next 12 years. While at Goldthwaite, she was the only girls’ basketball coach on staff, coaching the seventh, eighth, junior varsity, and varsity teams. At the varsity level, her teams won 10 district championships, four bi-district championships, and two area championships, while making four regional appearances. Her teams won 20 or more games each season, and nine players received collegiate scholarships.

Her coaching awards include numerous District Coach of the Year honors, Texas Girls Coaches Association (TGCA) Coach of the Year in 2001, Central Texas Coach of the Year four times, and TGCA, Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC), Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA), and WBCA Milestone Awards in 1990 for 300 wins, 1993 for 400 wins, 1996 for 500 wins, 2000 for 600 wins, 2004 for 700 wins, 2008 for 800 wins, and 2011 for 900 career varsity wins. On February 13, 2014, the veteran coach won her 1,00th varsity game against Lumberton in the area round of the state playoffs. Coach Farney is one of only eight girls’ basketball coaches to reach this milestone. Her career record stands at 1,058-289 for a winning percentage of .785.

In 1998, she was selected the six-state District VI Converse Coach of the Year and Fox Southwest’s Coach Who Makes a Difference. Farney was named the NFCA Section 6 Coach of the Year in 2006 for the six-state region. She is a former President of TABC and TGCA. She also has coached the TABC and TGCA All-Star games. She served on the TABC Hall of Fame Committee from 2004-08 and was chair for two years. On May 18, 2013, Coach Farney was inducted into the Texas Basketball Hall of Fame. She was named the National Federation of High School Coaches 2013 National Coach of the Year as well as being one of 17 UIL sponsors and coaches to receive the prestigious UIL Sponsor Excellence Award in 2014. In June 2014, Coach Farney will be inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in Arlington, Texas.

On the national scene, Farney has chaired the USA Basketball Cadet and Youth Committee, helping select players and coaches for the Summer Youth Development Festival. In summer 2001, she was one of two high school coaches named by the USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee to serve as floor coach for the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Trials in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was assistant coach for the 2005 USA Basketball Women’s Youth Development Festival, where her team won the gold medal.

Farney was named head coach for the April 2003 WBCA/Nike All-American game in Hartford, Connecticut. Previously, in April 1996, she traveled to Philadelphia as assistant coach for the WBCA/Nike All-American game. Farney served four years on the WBCA and NFCA Board of Directors and completed a term on the NFCA Basketball Rules Committee.