(Ames, IA) — Bill Fennelly, the winningest coach in Iowa State athletics history, announced Monday that he will retire at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season, concluding an incredible 39-year head coaching career with more than 50 seasons overall on the sidelines. Fennelly enters his 32nd season at Iowa State, tying as the third-longest tenured coach in any program in ISU history.
“It has been the greatest honor of my professional life to coach at Iowa State for the past 32 years,” Fennelly said. “I have been truly blessed to have had the opportunity to coach so many amazing players while working with loyal and dedicated staff members. We have built one of the most respected programs in the nation on and off the court. We have done that with the best fan base in the country that has grown from 310 in our first game to where it is today – top 10 for over 25 straight years.
“While I still love coaching and am working as hard as ever, I understand that this job has an expiration date. After talking with my family, I have made the decision that the 2026-27 season will be my last. Announcing my intention now is what is best for everyone in our program and provides the new athletics director clarity on my future and allows them to make plans for the program moving forward. Deb and our family can’t thank everyone enough for the support we have received since the day we arrived. We have given everything we have to this program and our community. We are proud to call Ames home.
“I hope that the focus of everyone is on our players as it always is in our program,” Fennelly concluded. “This is a special group and we are all committed to continuing to do things the Iowa State Way so we can share more Hilton Magic with Cyclone Nation.”
Fennelly boasts a career record of 656-335 (.662) at Iowa State. He has led Iowa State to 24 NCAA Tournament appearances and 26 postseason appearances overall in his career.
With 822 overall victories in his career, Fennelly ranks 15th all-time among NCAA Division I women’s basketball coaches.
“Coach Fennelly is a legend in women’s college basketball,” Iowa State University Endowed Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard said. “Bill’s impact on the young women in our program, the staff in our department, the thousands of fans that attended every home game, and the residents in our community, is second to none. He transformed our women’s basketball program into a nationally respected and competitive program, and his imprint on our department will never be forgotten. I look forward to seeing a banner hung in the Hilton Coliseum rafters permanently memorializing his lasting impact on Iowa State University.”
“For more than two decades, I’ve had the honor of working alongside Bill Fennelly and seeing firsthand not just the depth of his basketball mind, but the passion and purpose he brings to Iowa State every single day,” Senior Associate Athletics Director Dr. Calli Sanders said. “Bill built a program that reflects who he is – disciplined, competitive, and relentlessly committed to his student‑athletes. His influence will be felt long after his final season, not only in the record books, but in the lives of the countless people he has mentored and inspired.”
Excellence In All Facets
Iowa State women’s basketball was immediately invigorated under Fennelly’s guidance after he arrived at ISU in 1995. Following a seven-year stint at Toledo, the Davenport, Iowa native took over a program that had experienced six-straight losing seasons. He made it instantly competitive. Not only did the program win big, to the tune of 21 wins per season, but Fennelly did it the right way. The Iowa State Way.
The Iowa State Way, Fennelly’s personally coined term, is a way of life for everyone involved in the program. It touched every person and is still something that drives all the alumni long after their playing careers ended.
On the court, Fennelly steered Iowa State into the national conversation in a hurry. In just his second season (1996-97), he had the program dancing with its first appearance in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The message was clear. Iowa State women’s basketball was here to stay.
The 1997 team started a string of six-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
In 1999, Iowa State shocked the women’s basketball world when a Fennelly masterpiece helped the Cyclones stun top-seeded Connecticut to advance to the program’s first NCAA Elite Eight. Ten years later, the 2009 Cyclones put their stamp on women’s basketball history once again by overcoming a seven-point deficit with 1:30 remaining to defeat Michigan State, reaching another Elite Eight.
The 2000 Cyclones swept the Big 12 Conference regular season and tournament titles behind a star-studded cast of future Iowa State Athletics Hall of Famers: Stacy Frese, Megan Taylor and Angie Welle.
Iowa State has been a consistent contender in the Big 12 Conference, finishing in the top half of the league’s standings in 24 of its 30 seasons in the Big 12 Era. Fennelly’s teams have consistently met or exceeded preseason expectations, finishing at or above their predicted finish 19 times.
The Cyclones have enjoyed more success than almost any other team in the history of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship, winning 34 contests and cutting down the nets three times (2000, 2001, 2023).
Fennelly’s leadership has produced 24 All-Americans, garnered all-conference recognition 99 times and seen 16 of his players selected in the WNBA Draft. Stephanie Soares was the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, while Alison Lacey was the 10th pick in 2010 by Seattle and became the first Cyclone to win a WNBA Championship, highlighting a host of Cyclones with professional success.
Bridget Carleton came off an outstanding Cyclone career and has forged an impressive eight-year WNBA career and is currently one of the leading scorers for the Portland Fire. Carleton was an All-American by every outlet and was the first Cyclone to be named Big 12 Player of the year. She was also the first Cyclone to earn a WBCA position award and be named a WBCA All-American.
Carleton won the Cheryl Miller Award and later, ISU’s all-time leading scorer and four-time All-American Ashley Joens won the award in three-straight seasons.
A three-time finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award, Fennelly broke Kim Mulkey’s Big 12 wins record and enters 2026 with 302 league victories.
Fennelly has seen multiple players he coached receive the highest honors from the Iowa State Athletics Department during his tenure.
Six former student-athletes have been inducted into the Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame: Jayme Olson (2014), Frese (2015), Taylor (2016), Welle (2017), Alison Lacey (2022) and Lyndsey Medders (2024).
Olson, Taylor and Welle each have jerseys hung in the rafters of Hilton Coliseum as well.
Academic Excellence
In addition to the performance on the court, Iowa State’s women’s basketball players have been outstanding in the classroom as well. Every student-athlete that has completed her eligibility under Fennelly has graduated from Iowa State.
Eight Cyclones have earned College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America honors.
Fan Support Through The Years
The fan support of Cyclone Nation was very personal to Fennelly. From the moment he arrived in Ames, he put forth great effort to build an incredible fan base that supported the Cyclones everywhere they went.
Attendance at a women’s basketball game in Hilton normally averaged under 1,000 fans prior to Fennelly’s tenure. Through a grass roots effort by Fennelly and his wife, Deb, and an exciting, winning product on the court, attendance began to soar. Cyclone women’s hoops became one of the hottest tickets in town with attendance ranking among the nation’s Top 10 in each of the last 27 seasons (excluding the 2020-21 COVID-impacted season), peaking at second nationally four times.
International Experience
Fennelly also served four stints as a member of a USA Basketball coaching staff, most recently winning a Gold medal as head coach at the 2011 World University Games in Shenzhen, China.
He also won gold as an assistant at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship in Thailand, the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Argentina and the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis, Missouri.
Family Affair
It has always been a family affair for Fennelly. Every step along the way, Fennelly has had his all-time greatest recruit, Deb, at his side.
Both sons, Billy and Steven, have spent time on his coaching staff throughout his tenure. Billy, who has been on the staff since 2010, is married to former Cyclone great Lyndsey Medders.
Billy and Lyndsey’s children, Will and Callie, as well as Steven and wife Andrea’s children, Camden and Chandler, have been frequent visitors to Hilton Coliseum and the Sukup Basketball Complex.
