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The University of Utah women's basketball program is in good hands as 500-win coach Elaine Elliott enters her 25th season at the helm of the program. Elliott has been regarded for years as one of the top women's collegiate coaches in the country, and with good reason. She has amassed a 509-207 record (.711) and has the longest tenure of any coach in the Mountain West Conference.
Elliott solidified her name among the most elite coaches in the country when she earned her 500th win with a 73-57 victory over Colorado State on Jan. 12, 2007. She is just one of 25 Division I coaches in the country to have accumulated 500 wins, and ranks among the top 20 in the nation in career winning percentage.
During her illustrious career, the winningest coach in Utah basketball history, has led the Utes to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, nine regular-season conference titles, three divisional crowns and six league tournament championships.
In 24 years, she has had just one losing season (1993-94) and she has never posted a conference record below .500. Elliott has coached at least one first-team all-conference player in every season but one, and during her era, Utah has reached the championship game in all but seven MWC, WAC and HCAC tournaments ever held.
The 2006-07 saw Elaine Elliott's squad advance to the MWC Championship semifinal, and to the second round of the Women's NIT. She saw two of her athletes garner all-conference honors as Morgan Warburton landed
on the first team and Kalee Whipple on the third team.
Utah finished 27-7 in 2005-06 and had the most successful postseason run any Utah or MWC women's basketball team has ever had. The Utes won the MWC Tournament Championship and advanced all the way to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Touranment. Utah nearly advanced to the Final Four, before falling to Maryland, the eventual national champions, in overtime.
Elliott guided Kim Smith to her fourth consecutive MWC Player of the Year award and a third-team All-America honor by the Associated Press. The season marked the 17th 20-win season for Utah under Elliott's tutelage. Meanwhile, Shona Thorburn was named the MVP of the MWC Tournament. Julie Larsen -- Elliott's other senior last season -- finished the season as the top three-point shooter in NCAA Division I, hitting 50.4 percent of her attempts.
Following 2005-06, Thorburn and Smith became the first-ever Utah women's basketball players selected in the WNBA Draft. Smith also played in this summer's FIBA World Championships.
In 2004-05, Utah finished 26-8, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Utes were 12-2 in MWC play, earning a share of the conference title. Smith and Thorburn shared MWC Player of the Year honors. Both Smith and Thorburn were named Kodak Honorable Mention All-America, while Full Court Press named them both as third-team All-Americans.
Utah was 24-7 in 2003-04. Smith was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Smith also became just the second MWC sophomore ever to reach 1,000 points and was named a Kodak Honorable Mention All-America. With a 12-2 conference mark, Elliott led the 03-04 Utes to a regular-season MWC title.
In 2002-03, the Utes had just one returning starter from the previous season and no seniors. But they ran away with the 2002-03 regular-season MWC crown. Utah advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing an 11-point game to then-No. 1 Duke. Elliott was named MWC Coach of the Year for the third time in four years in 02-03. Smith was named MWC Player and Newcomer of the Year in 2002-03, the first player in league history to earn both awards in the same year. She was one of four freshmen nationally to be named a Kodak honorable mention All-America.
The 2000-01 season marked a list of firsts that will forever be remembered in Utah history and in the record books. The Utes won a second-consecutive regular-season league title after going 14-0 in conference play, a feat that had been achieved only one other time in school history. Finishing with a 28-4 record, the Utes reached 20 wins faster than any other team during the Elliott era. In the NCAA Tournament, Utah hosted the first and second rounds at the Huntsman Center and advanced to its first-ever Sweet 16. The Utes ended their season with a 69-54 loss to Notre Dame, the eventual national champion.
Senior Amy Ewert was a 2000-01 honorable mention Kodak All-America selection, the MWC Co-Player of the Year and the MWC Defensive Player of the Year. Junior Lauren Beckman was an honorable mention Kodak All-American and a first-team all-MWC selection.
Elliott's 1999-2000 squad became the first-ever Utah women's basketball team to win both a regular-season conference title and a conference tournament. Utah ended the year with a 23-8 overall record and went 11-3 in MWC play. The Utes received a bid to the NCAA tournament.
The 1998-99 season saw just one starter returning, and a roster with five freshmen, four sophomores and no seniors. Elliott guided the youthful Utes to a 21-7 record and a share of the WAC Pacific Division championship with a 12-2 mark in league play. Utah was invited to play in the WNIT.
In 1997-98, Elliott guided the Utah program to new heights. The Utes entered the national polls for the first time in the program's history on Dec. 29 and remained there for 11 consecutive weeks, climbing as high as a tie for No. 9 in the USA Today/ESPN poll. It was the highest ranking ever earned by a WAC team at the time. Utah won its first 16 games, the best start to a season in Utah and WAC history, and the second-longest winning streak in school annals. Utah finished 21-6 overall and tied for the WAC Mountain Division title. The Utes posted a perfect home record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Seniors Julie Krommenhoek and Alli Bills were named first-team all-WAC and Kodak honorable mention All-Americans.
The 1996-97 season saw Utah blow away the opposition in the WAC Mountain Division with a 15-1 record, finishing four games ahead of the pack. The team earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round for the first time.
After averaging 20 wins during her first 10 years as head coach, Elliott suffered through the first losing season (12-14) in the history of Utah women's basketball in 1993-94. She used it as a wake-up call and her renewed enthusiasm helped Utah return to a place among the NCAA's elite women's basketball teams in one short year.
With an outstanding recruiting class, Elliott guided the 1994-95 Utes to a 23-7 record. The team lost only to WAC champion and 20th-ranked San Diego State during the conference season, and avenged that loss by defeating the Aztecs in the WAC Tournament championship game. The Utes qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Utah was picked to win the WAC in 1995-96 by the league coaches in a preseason poll. Losing three players to injury before the start of the WAC schedule, Elliott was forced to retool her team in the middle of the season. Turning in arguably one of the best coaching jobs of her career, Elliott and the Utes proceeded to accomplish what was expected of them anyway. The Utes posted a 21-8 record and went undefeated at home. That undefeated home season was part of 28 consecutive home wins - the second-longest home court winning streak in the Utah record books and third-best active streak in the nation at the time.
Elliott logged 200 wins in her first 10 years, becoming Utah's winningest coach in the process. She has showcased some of the finest athletic talent ever to play for Utah. That list includes Smith, Thorburn, Krommenhoek, McEwen, Bills and many others.
Krommenhoek, an honorable mention Kodak All-America all four years, who ended her career as the all-time scoring leader in both school and WAC history. The first four-time first-team all-conference selection in the WAC, Krommenhoek finished in the top 10 in the nation in three-point field goal shooting all four seasons, and set the Utah and WAC career records for three-pointers.
Amber McEwen, who joined the team as a junior college transfer in '94-95, made first-team all-conference in both seasons under Elliott's guidance and was an honorable mention Kodak All-America in 1996. She finished her career second in scoring and rebounding average.
Bills, another student of Elliott's, held the Utah and WAC career assists records. She is currently an assistant coach at BYU.
Elliott has coached many of the other record holders and biggest names at Utah, including 14 of the 19 1,000-point scorers; the third-leading career scorer, Deb Asper; 1993 WAC Player of the Year Mikki Kane-Barton; career rebounding leader Anne Handy; and three of the best guards ever to play at Utah in addition to Thorburn, Krommenhoek, Bills: Gina Butters, Karen Alcorn and Reggie Wright.
A multiple-award winner over the years, Elliott was selected as the 2000-01 MWC Coach of the Year and IKON/WBCA District VII Coach of the Year. It was the fifth time she earned coach of the year honors in the district. In addition, she was the 2001 John and Nellie Wooden National Coach of the Year.
Elliott earned WAC divisional Coach of the Year honors from 1997-99 (sharing the honor in 1998), along with the inaugural MWC Coach of the Year honor in 1999-00. She also earned that honor in 2001-02 and 2002-03.
Elliott stepped into Utah's head coaching position in 1983, after serving as assistant the previous four years. In four years under Intermountain Region coaching legend Fern Gardner, Elliott helped guide Utah to four conference titles and four postseason appearances.
Elliott's non-Utah coaching experience includes coaching the East team to the gold medal in the 1990 U.S. Olympic Festival. In 1991, she served as assistant coach of the U.S. Junior National Team.
A Lakewood, Wash., native, Elliott moved to Boise, Idaho, in the ninth grade. She went on to become a four-sport standout athlete (basketball, volleyball, field hockey and softball) at Boise State University and was the first woman inducted into the BSU Athletic Hall of Fame.
After earning a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1977, Elliott became head coach at Boise High School. She led her prep squad to the state championship and was named Idaho A-1 Coach of the Year.
In June of 1997, Elliott was inducted into the Utah Summer Games Hall of Honor, which recognizes those who have played a monumental role in sports in the state of Utah. She was also inducted into the Idaho High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. Elliott was named the Utah Sportsperson of the Year in 2001 at the MS Society Dinner of Champions.
Elliott holds a master's degree in sport management, which she earned from Utah in 1994.
She was a member of the USA Basketball Collegiate Committee, which is responsible for player selection for the various USA Basketball teams, from 2002 through 2004.
Year-By-Year Coaching Record
| Year | Overall | Conf. | Place | Postseason |
| 1983-84 | 19-12 | 9-3 (HCAC) | T-2nd | NWIT Third Round |
| 1984-85 | 16-12 | 8-4 (HCAC) | T-2nd | |
| 1985-86 | 21-8 | 11-1 (HCAC) | 1st | NCAA First Round |
| 1986-87 | 20-7 | 10-2 (HCAC) | T-1st | |
| 1987-88 | 19-9 | 9-1 (HCAC) | 2nd | |
| 1988-89 | 24-6 | 9-1 (HCAC) | 1st | NCAA First Round |
| 1989-90 | 20-10 | 6-4 (HCAC) | 3rd | NCAA First Round |
| 1990-91 | 20-10 | 9-3 (WAC) | 2nd | NCAA First Round |
| 1991-92 | 22-8 | 10-4 (WAC) | 3rd | |
| 1992-93 | 19-10 | 9-5 (WAC) | T-2nd | |
| 1993-94 | 12-14 | 9-5 (WAC) | 3rd | |
| 1994-95 | 23-7 | 12-2 (WAC) | 2nd | NCAA First Round |
| 1995-96 | 21-8 | 12-2 (WAC) | T-1st | NCAA First Round |
| 1996-97 | 25-6 | 15-1 (WAC) | 1st* | NCAA Second Round |
| 1997-98 | 21-6 | 11-3 (WAC) | 1st* | NCAA First Round |
| 1998-99 | 21-7 | 12-2 (WAC) | 2nd* | WNIT First Round |
| 1999-00 | 23-8 | 11-3 (MWC) | 1st | NCAA First Round |
| 2000-01 | 28-4 | 14-0 (MWC) | 1st | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 2001-02 | 15-12 | 8-6 (MWC) | 5th | |
| 2002-03 | 24-7 | 12-2 (MWC) | 1st | NCAA Second Round |
| 2003-04 | 24-7 | 12-2 (MWC) | 1st | |
| 2004-05 | 26-8 | 12-2 (MWC) | T-1st | NCAA Second Round |
| 2005-06 | 27-7 | 12-4 (MWC) | 2nd | NCAA Elite 8 |
| 2006-07 | 19-14 | 10-6 (MWC) | 5th | WNIT Second Round |
| 24 Years | 509-207 (.711) | 252-68 (.788) |