Darnell Haney, the current interim head coach of the Georgetown University women’s basketball team, will be promoted to permanent head coach, according to a March 11 tweet from @GeorgetownWBB and an update on the Georgetown University Athletics website, which now states that Haney “earned the title of head coach in March of 2024.”
Stepping into the role of interim head coach after the passing of the late Tasha Butts in October, Haney led the Hoyas (22-11, 9-9 Big East) to a postseason run that culminated in the team’s first-ever appearance in the Big East championship game. Defeating Xavier (1-27, 0-18 Big East), St. John’s (17-14, 11-8 Big East) and No. 23 Creighton (25-5, 15-3 Big East) en route to the final, the Hoyas fell short to the No. 10 University of Connecticut Huskies (29-5, 18-0 Big East), 78-42.
Graduate forward Graceann Bennett announced Georgetown was in talks with Haney to remove the interim tag from his title at a postgame press conference following the Hoyas’ championship loss to UConn.
“I am so elated and overjoyed for the future of the program and just so grateful that I had this opportunity to learn from him for the year,” Bennett said at the press conference. “There’s much more to come for Georgetown women’s basketball with Coach Haney as head coach.”
Haney said becoming a full-time head coach would allow him to recruit better and be a stronger advocate for his players.
“They know they got a coach that’s gonna care for them; they know they got a coach that’s going to put everything on the line for them; they know they got a coach that can put them in position to be seen and be successful and grow, not just in basketball,” Haney said at the press conference.
Haney joined the team in April as an associate head coach to Butts after serving as the head women’s basketball coach at Jacksonville University in his home state of Florida, leading the team to a 64-75 record in 5 years at the helm.
The Hoyas’ championship game run this season came despite the loss of Butts, who never had a chance to coach the Hoyas in a game, and a preseason prediction that Georgetown would finish tenth in the Big East. Haney led them to a sixth-place regular season finish in the Big East before their unprecedented success at the Big East tournament. The team finished with 22 wins, its most since the 2011-12 season.
Haney said his team played as hard as they could throughout the season.
“These young women and this staff, they just wanted to find a way to win,” Haney said at the press conference. “They wanted to see success and they listened and they persevered. When we would lose a game, I couldn’t be mad at them because they just gave everything they got.”
“I’m so proud to be just associated with these people and associated with these young women that put their hearts and souls on the line for this university,” Haney added.
