| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
|---|---|
| 1962–1979 | Temple JC |
| 1979–1983 | Delta State |
| 1983–1993 | TCU |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 537–411 (.566) |
| Women's Basketball Hall of Fame | |
Fran Garmon is an Americanbasketball coach. Her collegiate heading coaching career included position atTemple Junior College,Delta State, andTexas Christian University. She was active in theUSA Basketball, serving as head coach of the gold medal winningWorld University Games team in1979 and thePan American Games team in 1983. She also held leadership positions with the US national team. Garmon was inducted into theWomen's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Garmon had interest in basketball as early as the age of 5 when "her cousin Gene Morris held her up high enough to put a ball through a hoop".[1] She played high school basketball atMoody High School, playing the two-division court, six player system in vogue at the time.[1]
She initially enrolled inTemple Junior College, then went on to theUniversity of Mary Hardin–Baylor, where she played basketball for the school as well as an independent team. She went on to earn a master's degree atBaylor.[1]
Garmon then returned to Temple Junior College in 1963, where she persuaded the athletic director and the school president to let her start a women's basketball program. At this time, there were not a lot of options for opponents so she scheduled anyone who would be willing to play including high schools and four-year colleges. She had a challenging start to her college coaching career as her team lost their first seven games, but they went on to win the next nine. She had no scholarships in her first year but the school president gave her four scholarships for the subsequent year. She remained at Temple Junior College until 1979, winning 383 games against 157 losses. Her 1975 team won the firstNational Junior College Athletic Association national championship, beating Northern Iowa Area Community College 59–58.[1][2] Although a junior-college, she sometimes scheduled four-year schools such as UCLA. They competed in one national invitational tournament and defeated UCLA, which led her to say with a smile, “(That) was a big mistake because then they banned all junior colleges from it after that,”.[1]
In 1979, Garmon took over the head coaching duties atDelta State. This was one of the premier women's basketball teams of the era — the team had won theAIAW national championship in three consecutive years – 1974 – 1977. She remained there for four years with a record of 76–63.[3] After Delta state, Garmon spent a decade atTexas Christian University where her teams were 78–192 between 1983 and 1993.[3]
In March 2018, Garmon was invited to the second round women's NIT game held at TCU, where she was honored at halftime for winning the Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award.[4][5]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta State Lady Statesmen(Gulf South Conference)(1979–1983) | |||||||||
| 1979–80 | Delta State | 17–15 | |||||||
| 1980–81 | Delta State | 22–17 | |||||||
| 1981–82 | Delta State | 24–15 | |||||||
| 1982–83 | Delta State | 13–16 | |||||||
| Delta State: | 76–63 (.547) | ||||||||
| Texas Christian University(Southwest Conference)(1983–1993) | |||||||||
| 1983–84 | TCU | 6–22 | 1–15 | 9th | |||||
| 1984–85 | TCU | 6–21 | 2–14 | T-8th | |||||
| 1985–86 | TCU | 5–22 | 1–15 | 9th | |||||
| 1986–87 | TCU | 10–17 | 3–13 | 9th | |||||
| 1987–88 | TCU | 12–15 | 5–11 | T-7th | |||||
| 1988–89 | TCU | 9–16 | 4–12 | 8th | |||||
| 1989–90 | TCU | 11–16 | 8–8 | T-5th | |||||
| 1990–91 | TCU | 5–22 | 2–14 | 9th | |||||
| 1991–92 | TCU | 4–24 | 0–14 | 8th | |||||
| 1992–93 | TCU | 10–17 | 1–13 | 8th | |||||
| TCU: | 78–192 (.289) | ||||||||
| Total: | 154–255 (.377) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
Garmon was actively involved, and had multiple roles in the USA basketball organization.
In 1979, she was asked to serve as head coach of the USA entry into theWorld University Games. The team went on to win the gold medal.[2][7]
In 1983, the USA basketball organization took the same team that had lost in the recent world championships and entered them in the Pan Am games. While all the players with the same as the previous team, there was one difference — they changed the coaches, choosing Fran Garmon as head coach andKay Yow as assistant coach. The team would go on to win the gold medal.[8][9]