Stacy McIntyre named head women's basketball coach at Air Force

Stacy McIntyre has been named head women's basketball coach at Air Force, according to an announcement today from Director of Athletics Nathan Pine.

"It is my pleasure to introduce Stacy McIntyre as the next head coach of Air Force Women's Basketball," Pine said. "Coach McIntyre has been an integral part of building our program alongside Coach Gobrecht for the last nine years and now we are excited to see it thrive under her leadership. She believes in our mission and has played a vital role in bringing in many of the top players in Air Force history and helping to develop them into leaders of character."

"I want to give a sincere thank you to Mr. Nathan Pine and Shondell Reed for allowing me the opportunity to be a leader among leaders here at the Air Force Academy," McIntyre said. "There is so much more to this role than coaching winning basketball – Our staff here is tasked with sourcing leaders of character and driving home the core values of the United States Air Force within our players. I feel grateful for the opportunity to fill coach Gobrecht's shoes in continuing our program's mission toward new heights. More important than basketball is the greater mission of the Academy and understanding the role basketball can play in the promotion of that mission. Having the opportunity to inspire and develop the newest generation of athletes in our sport is a gift, but getting to do it at a service academy is an honor unique to our sport."

A 20-year professional of growing leaders through basketball, McIntyre takes over the head coaching duties after spending the last nine years as an assistant under Chris Gobrecht, the last five as associate head coach.  

Since arriving at USAFA, McIntyre has proven instrumental in laying the foundation that has facilitated Air Force's upward trajectory of the past nine seasons, the most successful stretch of Air Force women's basketball in the program's Division I history.

In 2023-24, McIntyre and the Air Force staff led the Falcons to a 15-17 finish, going 8-10 against the Mountain West. The Falcons went 10-6 in Clune Arena, marking the second season in three years of 10 or more home victories. Air Force has 30 wins the past three seasons which accounts for more home victories than the prior 10 seasons combined.

Air Force's season successes were underscored by the sudden prominence of All-Mountain West selection Milahnie Perry, who, with 535 points scored in 2023-24, became the single-season points record holder in Air Force Division I history. A sure sign of what the future holds, freshmen pair Keelie O'Hollaren and Mountain West All-Freshman honoree Jayda McNabb both left their marks in the freshman records, as O'Hollaren earned the most three-pointers for a freshman in Air Force history (60), and McNabb the most rebounds for a newcomer in the program's Division I history (201). The Falcons closed the year leading the Mountain West in steals per game (10.8, 19 nationally), turnover margin (4.41, 25th nationally), turnovers forced per game (19.19) and three-point production through conference play (.350).

In 2022-23, the Falcons closed their season at 13-18 with an 8-10 mark against the Mountain West and a 9-5 home record. A 5-1 start to the season in Clune marked a start to the Falcons' home schedule which had not been achieved since the program's final year as a member of Division II in 1995-96, in which Air Force started 7-1 at home.

McIntyre and the Air Force staff helped guide the Falcons to a record-breaking season in 2021-22. Air Force crafted its most successful campaign in the program's Division I history, as the Falcons' 19 overall wins and 11 Mountain West victories were both program bests. Cierra Winters was named Mountain West Defensive Player while Riley Snyder was named All-Mountain West enroute to becoming Air Force's all-time leading Division I scorer. Air Force clinched its first-ever bye in the Mountain West Tournament where the Falcons defeated Nevada to advance to the semifinal round for the first time in program history. Air Force eventually was awarded an at-large berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament, as the Falcons picked up their first-ever postseason tournament win in the opening round, defeating San Francisco 64-60.

Under the guidance of McIntyre, the 2020-21 season was highlighted by Snyder's All-MW Honorable Mention nod and Kassady Huffman's MW All-Defensive team selection. The Falcons finished the shortened 2020-21 campaign with an 8-18 overall record and a 4-14 mark in the Mountain West, finishing ninth in the league. The Falcons made it to the MWC quarterfinals for the second-straight season, defeating SDSU in the first round and falling to top-seeded New Mexico thereafter.

In the 2019-2020 season McIntyre helped the women's basketball team to new heights as the Falcons finished 10-21 (7-11 MWC), marking the most single-season wins since joining Air Force and the program's most single-season conference wins since joining the Mountain West in 1999-00. Air Force's seventh-place finish in the league tied its best-ever conference finish in the Mountain West and is the best-ever finish since the MWC became an 11-team league.

Under McIntyre's guidance, the Falcons averaged a program-best 60.7 points per game in league play, marking the team's best conference scoring average during its Mountain West tenure. Air Force also ranked as high as 11th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game and as high as 25th in the nation in steals. Air Force's historic season was also highlighted by knocking off regular-season champions, Fresno State, at the Academy. The Bulldogs, who were undefeated in conference (15-0) at the time of the loss, had never lost to Air Force before. McIntyre also helped guide Air Force to its first-ever win in New Mexico's "The Pit", snapping a 22-game losing streak at New Mexico, as well as the squad's first-ever win against Nevada in Reno, snapping an eight-game losing streak at Nevada.

Prior to breaking the ceiling in 2021-22, McIntyre's most recent successes were preceded by a record-breaking 2017-18 campaign, where she helped guide Air Force to five wins in conference, becoming the most by the program in the Mountain West era, surpassing the previous mark of four wins, set in 2005-06 and 2007-08.  Air Force's signature win came in the regular season home finale, posting a 57-47 win over then-first place Wyoming.  In addition to winning four of the last six games of the season, Air Force smashed five team records, highlighted by a staunch defense that only allowed 62.3 ppg in the regular season and 59.7 pp in league action, setting new team records in each respective category. The Falcons held opponents below 60 points 11 times on the season, testament to the progression of the defense under the coaching staff. Air Force's 2017-18 season also yielded six new individual school records including the program's first-ever Mountain West Freshman of the Year in Kaelin Immel, who set four program-records highlighted by the most-ever points scored by an Air Force freshman in the Div. I era.

McIntyre continued to push the envelope in 2018-19, leading a team that averaged 60.1 points per game in regular season and Mountain West play, an average mark 4.4 points more than last season's averages and 12.7 more points per game than in their inaugural campaign. McIntyre helped a young Falcon squad check the boxes on numerous milestones to include the team's first win against Army in over a decade and ending a 13-game losing streak to in-state rivals Colorado State. Snyder, who averaged 10 points per game, was a Mountain West All-Freshman team honoree. She is the third freshman since the 2017-18 season to earn the honor.

McIntyre worked with former Gobrecht at two stops prior to arriving at the Academy.  In addition to one season with her at Yale, McIntyre was part of Gobrecht's staff at the University of Southern California for seven seasons. McIntyre has previous ties to the Mountain West, spending three years as an assistant coach at the University of Nevada.

In her time at USC, McIntyre assisted in all facets of game preparation, oversaw NCAA compliance matters and was involved in all aspects of recruiting student-athletes. Her efforts helped assemble a pair of Top-10 recruiting classes that included Ebony Hoffman and Eshaya Murphy, who were taken in the first and second round of the WNBA draft, respectively. McIntyre also helped the program to a pair of postseason appearances in 2000 and 2002.

McIntyre began her coaching career at Nevada where she oversaw all aspects of the recruiting process and oversaw the team travel and recruiting budgets for the Wolfpack. McIntyre also has experience working with the Nike Women's Basketball Skills Academy where she oversaw all event and facility planning.

McIntyre enjoyed a standout career at the University of Kentucky and finished her career ninth all-time in scoring (1,215) and sixth in steals (189). A two-time captain, she led the team in scoring twice and was named to the All-SEC Second Team and was an All-Academic SEC selection in 1992. McIntyre also led the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament in 1991.

In 2018, she was inducted into the 11th Annual Scott County Athletics Hall of Fame class.  McIntyre is a celebrated two-sport athlete from Georgetown, Kentucky's Scott County High School, where she played from 1984-1988.

McIntyre graduated from Kentucky in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and obtained a teacher's certificate.