Since her first season at the helm when the team won just 10 games, Frese has guided Maryland to a National Championship in 2006, 22 winning seasons, 19 20-win seasons, seven 30-win campaigns and 21 bids to the NCAA Tournament. In 2022, she signed an extension which will keep her on the Maryland sidelines through the 2028-29 season.
Former Athletics Director Deborah A. Yow courted the 2002 AP National Coach of the Year because of Frese's reputation for making amazing turnarounds and her relentless work ethic in recruiting. Described as dynamic, overachieving, determined and enthusiastic, the 53-year old coach is one of college basketball's stars. Standing atop the podium in Boston in 2006, Frese became the fifth-youngest coach (age 35) in NCAA history to win a national title and only the ninth to win in her first trip to the Final Four.
Despite claiming eight Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament titles prior to her arrival, Maryland advanced to new heights when Frese stepped on the scene. In her second season, she led the Terrapins to a tie for third place in the ACC standings - its highest finish since 1996-97. She's led Maryland to 19 top-four league finishes in her 23 years. Her Maryland squads have posted a 607-169 (.783) mark in 23 years, advancing to at least the second round of the tournament in 19 years, including 12 Sweet Sixteens, seven Elite Eights and three Final Fours.
On Feb. 14, 2021, Frese won her 500th game at Maryland, making her the winningest coach in Maryland basketball history. She surpassed former women's basketball head coach and Hall of Famer Chris Weller, who retired with 499 wins for the Terrapins.
Frese's current career winning percentage is .769, which is the highest career percentage of all Big Ten head men's and women's basketball head coaches in their Division I careers. At the start of the 2023-24 season, here are some notable coaches' career records:
- Brenda Frese - 664-199 (.769)
- Mike Krzyzewski - 1,202-368 (.766)
- Tom Izzo (Mich. State)- 686-278 (.712)
- Phil Jackson (NBA) 1,155–485 (.704)
- Bill Belichick (Patriots) - 330–170 (.660)
After joining the Big Ten in 2014, Frese's Terrapins have had historical success in the league. Her Terrapins teams have earned a record of 181-40 (.819) in conference play, including their 22-6 record in the Big Ten Tournament. Frese and the Terps have won six Big Ten Championships, five Big Ten Tournament titles and made a record seven straight appearances in the Big Ten Championship game (2015-21).
Frese and her staff led the Terrapins to an unprecedented level of success in their first year in the Big Ten in 2015. After losing five seniors, including three starters and a three-time All-American, Maryland led the league in scoring with 80.2 points per game, en route to a perfect 18-0 conference record in a new league and a 24-game win streak over three months. The Terrapins were the first team to go undefeated in conference play since Purdue went 16-0 in 1998-99 and Ohio State went 18-0 in 1984-85. The Terps were the first Maryland team, men’s or women’s, to stay perfect in conference play. Frese was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time in her career.
After losing five starters from the 2019-20 Big Ten Championship squad, Frese and her staff reloaded with five newcomers and the return of five sophomores. Frese's Terrapins did not miss a beat in 2020-21, earning a record of 26-3 overall, 17-1 in league play and winning the program's sixth Big Ten title in seven years. The Terrapins advanced to their ninth Sweet Sixteen under Frese. She was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year by the AP, The Athletic and ESPN.
Frese has built the team's success around recruiting, hard work and a positive atmosphere. The instant she arrived on campus, she determinedly worked the recruiting trails in an effort to reclaim the elite status Maryland once had in the 1980s. Success came quickly and early. Before she even coached a game in the newly-constructed XFINITY Center, she received commitments from a pair of high school All-Americans, including Shay Doron, who went on to become a three-time All-ACC pick and a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft selection. In all, 25 McDonald's All-Americans have donned a Maryland uniform under Frese's reign.
Seventeen of Frese's recruiting classes have been ranked in the top-15, including 14 rated in the top-10 and eight in the top five. In 2016, she and her staff signed the program's first-ever No. 1 recruiting class for the 2016-17 season. The landmark signings of Crystal Langhorne, Laura Harper, Jade Perry and Ashleigh Newman were rated No. 2 in the country, while the class of Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver was ranked No. 4 - the core of the Terps' national championship team. Her 2010 batch of Terrapins included four high school All-Americans and a No. 2 national ranking. Frese and her staff's 2019 class was ranked No. 1 on signing day.
Frese's recruiting classes have lived up to their billing and her pupils have earned numerous accolades. The first Terp in 17 years to garner All-American nods in 2006, Langhorne was a three-time AP and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-American, the program's first multiple All-American. She was selected a Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American in 2007, the first in school history since 1989, and then again received the accolade in 2008. Most recently,
Alyssa Thomas earned All-American nods from the WBCA, USBWA and First Team honors from the AP in 2012. Thomas was the first sophomore in school history to be named a WBCA All-American and First Team AP All-American and the first to be a three-time All-American. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough were honored as All-Americans from the AP and the USBWA in 2017 and Walker-Kimbrough in 2016. Charles earned AP and USBWA Third Team honors in 2020. Ashley Owusu and Katie Benzan earned USBWA and AP All-America honors in 2021. Owusu, Benzan and Angel Reese earned AP All-America honors in 2022. Diamond Miller earned Second Team All-America honors in 2023 from The Athletic, the AP and the USBWA. She was named a WBCA Coaches All-American - Maryland's first since Thomas in 2014.
Frese's players have also received numerous conference honors.
Alyssa Thomas became just the second underclassman ever to be named ACC Player of the Year in March 2012. She is the first underclassman in league history to be named Player of the Year and Tournament MVP in the same season. Thomas was just the second player in league history to be named ACC Player of the Year in three straight years (2012, 2013, 2014). In her final season, Langhorne was selected the ACC's Player of the Year, the first Terp to win the award in nearly 20 years. Toliver followed suit at the end of her senior year, winning the ACC's top-player honor in 2009. In 2005, Langhorne became the program's first ACC Rookie of the Year since 1991. Coleman followed in her footsteps by nabbing the honor during the Terps' championship campaign in 2006. Center Lynetta Kizer and Thomas made it four Terps in six years to be named the league's top freshman when they won in 2009 and 2011.
In all, Terps have received 78 All-Conference citations in Frese's 23 years, including a school-record six in 2020 when Kaila Charles, Taylor Mikesell, Blair Watson, Stephanie Jones, Ashley Owusu and Shakira Austin were honored. Sixteen Terps have been First Team conference selections 28 times in Frese's tenure.
Seven of Frese's recruits at Maryland have been conference rookies of the year. In total, 21 of Frese's players have been named to the All-Freshman Team.
Numerous Terps have also garnered national recognition under Frese. Most recently, Diamond Miller was named a Wooden and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award finalist. She was named one of the 10 top players in the country as a WBCA Division I Coaches All-American. Ashley Owusu won the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for the nation's top shooting guard in 2021, while also earning All-America honors from the AP and the USBWA. Kaila Charles made the Cheryl Miller Award Final 10, the Wade, Wooden and Naismith Watch Lists in 2019 and 2020. She also earned USBWA Third Team All-America and AP All-America honors in both years as well.
Brionna Jones and
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough were named to the Wade, Naismith, Wooden Watch Lists in 2016. Toliver became the first Terrapin to earn the highest point guard honor in the country, winning the Nancy Lieberman Award in 2008, after being a finalist the previous year. Several have earned spots on national player of the year candidate lists, making history in the fall of 2006. That year, for the first time ever, four players from the same team were selected preseason candidates for the WBCA's prestigious Wade Trophy when Doron, Coleman, Langhorne and Toliver were put on the Watch List. All five starters were tabbed preseason honorees for the Naismith Award, also a first in the history of the award.
Frese has seen success in each of her three stops in 26 seasons as a head coach and has made amazing turnarounds her calling card. She captured her 400th-career victory on Nov. 20, 2016 vs. Detroit. Frese won her 500th game as a head coach on Jan. 8, 2019 at Nebraska with a record of 500-150 (.769).
Maryland has rewritten several records over the last 18 seasons. In 2014-15, the Terrapins went 18-0 in conference play in their first season in the Big Ten. They were just the third team in history to go undefeated in Big Ten play. They won 28-straight games from Dec. 3, 2014 through March 30, 2015 to set a new school record. In 2007-08, the Terps became the first team in NCAA history to have four active players with at least 1,000 points on the same roster. That year, school records were broken for most home wins (21), which is also believed to be an NCAA record. The team opened the 2006-07 campaign winning 18-straight games, setting the program record for best start to a season. Maryland ended the 2008-09 campaign having won a school-record 36-straight home games, thanks to undefeated home marks in two successive seasons, and 40-consecutive non-conference games at the XFINITY Center. In the 2009-10 season the Terrapins extended that streak to 48, a Maryland basketball record for either program.
In 2005-06, the team's 34 wins set a school record, shattering the previous mark of 29. The championship squad also set new standards for highest road winning percentage (.900), points (3,166), field goal attempts (2,363), 3-point field goals (216), 3-point attempts (540), free throws (690), free throw attempts (924), team free throw percentage (.747), rebounds (1,720) and blocked shots (195).
Numerous individual records have also fallen since her recruits began donning a Terrapin uniform. Among the most notable are the career scoring and rebounding records, which Thomas shattered in her four year career. She is the all-time leading scorer (2,356) and rebounder (1,235). She also broke the school record in double-doubles (66) set by Langhorne, who also previously held the scoring and rebounding records. Frese recruits own five of the top-six career scoring marks in Maryland history, including Nos. 1-3 in Langhorne, Coleman and Toliver - the only three players in Terp annals with 2,000-plus points apiece.
Under Frese, Maryland has been crowned an NCAA statistical champion 12 times. Most recently, the Terps led the nation in scoring and set a school record with 90.8 points per game in 2021. That same year, they also led the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.69). The Terrapins posted the nation's best rebounding margin in 2006 (+11.9), 2007 (+14.3) and 2016 (+15.1) and second-best in 2012 (+12.9) and 2013 (+13.7). In 2016, Jones led the country with her field goal percentage of 66.5 percent and Walker-Kimbrough led the NCAA, and set a Big Ten record, with her three-point field goal percentage of 54.5 percent. In 2017, Jones once again led the country with her field goal percentage of 69.0%. Also in 2006, the Terps shot 40.0 percent from 3-point range, tops in the country, while winning the most games of any team that year (34). In 2007, the team's 18.3 assists-per-game average was the best in the country, it owned the best shooting accuracy at 49.5 percent in 2008 and, in 2009, it once again claimed the top 3-point shooting mark in the nation (40.1 percent).
Maryland has been one of the most prolific scoring teams in the NCAA over the last decade. In 2022, the Terps led the nation in scoring (90.8) and were third in field goal percentage (49.6%). They ranked No. 2 in scoring average in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and No. 3 in 2009. The Terrapins were third in the country in field goal percentage (.471) in 2013. In 2016, the Terrapins were No. 2 in the country in field goal percentage (49.6%) and No. 5 in scoring (83.2). In 2017, the Terrapins were No. 2 in the nation in rebounding margin (+13.9), scoring (89.3) and field goal percentage (51.0%), third in scoring margin (+24.9) and fourth in assists (19.8).
Maryland's rise into the upper-echelon of the country, has bolstered the excitement surrounding the team. Over the last 15 years, the program has ranked in the top-25 in the nation in attendance. In 2007, Maryland recorded the nation's largest one-season improvement in home attendance, averaging 9,533 fans in 16 games, almost double the average from the previous season (4,183) - with more than 150,000 people making their way through the Comcast Center turnstiles, a school-record. By the end of the '07 campaign, the Terps were sixth in the nation in average attendance and fourth in overall attendance, as 241,280 spectators filled the stands at home and on the road to watch the Terps play in 34 games. In 2008, Maryland hosted over 160,000 fans in 21 games and was ranked eighth in the nation in average attendance that year, followed by a No. 6 ranking in 2009 (133,336 in 15 games).
Under Frese, the Terrapins have sold out the XFINITY Center (capacity 17,950) four times - most recently Feb. 3, 2024 vs. Iowa.
In the classroom, the Terps have also been all-star students. Frese's Terps have a 100 percent graduation rate at Maryland. Forty-one of Frese's Terps have been named to the Conference All-Academic Teams, while four,
Kristen Confroy, Lori Bjork, Doron and Langhorne have received Academic All-American nods by
ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA. In 2015,
Malina Howard earned the Elite 89 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
Updated August 13, 2025
Coaches to Win NCAA Title on First Trip to Final Four
Brenda Frese, Maryland - 2006
Kim Mulkey, Baylor - 2005
Carolyn Peck, Purdue - 1999
Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina - 1994
Marsha Sharp, Texas Tech - 1993
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford - 1990
Jody Conradt, Texas - 1986
Linda Sharp, Southern California - 1983
Sonia Hogg, Louisiana Tech - 1982
Youngest Coaches to Win NCAA Title
Marianne Stanley, Old Dominion - 31 years, 1985
Linda Sharp, Southern California - 32 years, 1983
Carolyn Peck, Purdue - 33 years, 1999
Pat Summit, Tennessee - 34 years, 1987
Brenda Frese, Maryland - 35 years, 2006
Frese's Coaching Credentials
• Head Coach, Maryland (Apr. 2, 2002-Present)
• Head Coach, Minnesota (June 2001-Apr. 2002)
• Head Coach, Ball State (Apr. 1999-June 2001)
• ESPN National Coach of the Year (2021)
• Associated Press National Coach of the Year (2002, 2021)
• Nell and John Wooden Excellence in Coaching Award (2021)
• WBCA Regional Coach of the Year (2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
• ACC Coach of the Year (Coaches' 2013)
• Big Ten Coach of the Year (2002, 2015, 2019, 2021)
• Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year (2000)
• NCAA Champions (2006)
• NCAA Final Four (2006, 2014, 2015)
• Conference Regular Season Champions (2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021)
• Conference Tournament Champions (2009, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021)
• Seven NCAA Elite Eight Appearances (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2023)
• 12 Sweet Sixteen Appearances (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025)
• 21 NCAA Tournament Appearances ('02, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08, '09, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16, '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23, '24, '25)
• Seven Conference Players of the Year: ACC (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014); Big Ten (2002); MAC (2000)
• Nine Conference Rookies of the Year: ACC (2005, 2006, 2009, 2011); Big Ten (2002, 2017, 2019, 2020); MAC (2000)
• 78 All-Conference honors: First team (29); Second team (27); Third team (4); Honorable Mention (18)
• 24 Conference All-Freshman Team honorees
• Five CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
• Nine CoSIDA Academic All-District Selections
• 51 Academic All-Conference Honors
• 19 ACC Honor Roll Members
• No. 10 2002-03 Recruiting Class
• No. 2 2003-04 Recruiting Class
• No. 4 2004-05 Recruiting Class
• No. 7 2005-06 Recruiting Class
• No. 2 2006-07 Recruiting Class
• No. 10 2007-08 Recruiting Class
• No. 15 2008-09 Recruiting Class
• No. 2 2010-11 Recruiting Class
• No. 6 2011-12 Recruiting Class
• No. 4 2012-13 Recruiting Class
• No. 11 2013-14 Recruiting Class
• No. 10 2014-15 Recruiting Class
• No. 1 2015-16 Recruiting Class
• No. 4 2017-18 Recruiting Class
• No. 3 2018-19 Recruiting Class
• No. 9 2020-21 Recruiting Class
• No. 7 2022-23 Recruiting Class
Frese Coaching Tree
Tina Langley (Head Coach at Washington) - Assistant at MD
Jeff Walz (Head Coach at Louisville) - Assistant at MINN, MD
Joanna Bernabei-McNamee (Head Coach at Boston College) - Assistant at MINN, MD
Laura Harper (Head Coach at Coppin State) - Player at MD
Terry Nooner (Head Coach at Wichita State) - Assistant at MD
Winston Gandy (Head Coach at Grand Canyon) - Staff at MD
Stephanie Stevens (Head Coach at Gallaudet) - Staff at MD
Ryan Richman (Assistant for Wizards) - Intern at MD
Kristi Toliver (Associate HC for Mercury) - Player at MD
David Adkins (Assistant at Washington) - Assistant at MD
Katie Benzan (GM at SLC Stars) - Player at MD
Rhet Wierzba (Assistant at Indiana) - DOBO at MD
Billy Fennelly (Assistant at Iowa State) - Staff at MD
Anjale Barrett (Assistant at Monmouth) - Player/Staff at Maryland
Sean Ehlbeck (Assistant at Boston College) - Staff at MD
Tori Jankoska (Assistant at Virginia) - Staff at Maryland
Shay Robinson (Assistant at Louisville) - AC at Maryland
Marsha Frese ( Assistant at Loyola Chicago) - Assistant at MINN, MD
Kaili McLaren ( Assistant at UCSB) - Staff at Maryland
Mike Bowden (AC at UMKC) - Staff at Maryland
Jade Perry (AC at Albright) - Player at Maryland
Quincy Cunningham (AC at PFW) - Intern at MD
Ieshia Small (AC at Apprentice School) - Player at Maryland
Christie Marrone (AC at Caldwell) - Player at Maryland
Alexa Gutchess (Staff at VCU) - Staff at Maryland
Sydney Durrah (Video at Georgia Tech) Intern at MD
The Personal Side of Brenda Frese
Education Background:
• Bachelor of Arts in Communications (University of Arizona, 1993)
• Master's Degree in Athletic Administration (Kent State University, 1995)
Athletic Background:
• Three seasons as a varsity basketball player at the University of Arizona (1989-93).
• Selected to Pac-10 tour of West Germany (1989)
High School:
• Washington (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
• Four-year basketball letterwinner. Honorable Mention All-American and Iowa state champion in 1988. All-state and all-metro, 1986-88. Also four-year volleyball player, one-year track participant and one-year softball player.
Family:
• Married Mark Thomas on August 20, 2005.
• Twin sons, Markus William and Tyler Joseph, born on Feb. 17, 2008.
• Daughter of Bill and Donna Frese.
• Four sisters: Deb, Cindy, Marsha, Stacy. One brother, Jeff.
Coaching Highlights
- NCAA Champions (2006)
- NCAA Final Fours (2006, 2014, 2015)
- Seven NCAA Elite Eight Appearances (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2023)
- 12 Sweet Sixteen Appearances (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025)
- 14 Conference Titles
- 17 Top Ten Recruiting Classes
Coaching Experience
- Head Coach, University of Maryland, 2002-pres.
- Head Coach, Minnesota, 2002
- Head Coach, Ball State, 2000-01
- Assistant Coach, Iowa State, 1996-99
- Assistant Coach, Kent State, 1994-95
