Wake Forest has fired women’s basketball coach Jen Hoover, parting ways with the former Demon Deacons player after 10 seasons.
The school announced the move Wednesday evening, with athletics director John Currie pointing to the program’s overall trajectory as well as turnover on the coaching staff. Wake Forest has made the NCAA Tournament just twice, though Hoover guided the Demon Deacons there in 2021.
“Wins and losses matter, we do keep score,” Currie said in an online news conference with reporters. “At the same time, I believe that Wake Forest over the last 10 years has steadily increased its investment in women’s basketball, and we have a very, very significant in women’s basketball.
“I would never point to a specific record or a specific loss. It’s more of an aggregate body of work, so to speak.”
Hoover was an all-Atlantic Coast Conference performer as a Wake Forest player from 1987-91.
“I am disappointed and deeply saddened to receive the news that I was terminated today without cause,” Hoover said. “I am so proud of our many accomplishments over the past 10 years including the return for the program to the NCAA in 2021.”
Yet the follow-up to that NCAA bid offered an example of Currie’s concerns on whether the program was making “forward progression.” This year’s team went 16-17 and just 4-14 in league play. After the season, all three assistants departed, with associate head coach Erin Dickerson Davis becoming head coach at William & Mary.
The decision came nearly two months after the Demon Deacons concluded the season with a WNIT second-round loss to Middle Tennessee. Currie said the move followed a comprehensive program review, but timing proved awkward considering Currie and Hoover were both in Florida attending the ACC’s spring meetings this week.
Currie said he met with Hoover after she concluded her portion of the meetings there.
“The reality is there’s never a good time,” Currie said. “And once a decision has been made, the right thing to do for all the people involved is to go ahead and move forward with that decision.”