Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Women's Basketball's Niele Ivey to Receive Sports Advocate of the Year Award

Aug. 25, 2017

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s basketball associate head coach Niele Ivey heads to her hometown of St. Louis on Saturday where she’ll receive the Sports Advocate of the Year Award from the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club.

Ivey is one-of-12 award winners this year that will be honored during the Martin L. Mathews Awards Program & Benefits Concert inside the Fabulous Fox Theater. The annual event highlights the accomplishments of the club’s members, volunteers, and supporters from within the St. Louis community.

“Mathews-Dickey gave me the opportunity to chase my dreams,” Ivey said. “I learned so much about being a part of the program there and had so many role models growing up. I’ve used those core values and those experiences to transition from being a student-athlete to a professional player to now an associate head coach at Notre Dame.”

As a student-athlete, Ivey led Notre Dame to a national title in 2001. In her senior year, the St. Louis native earned All-America honors, ranked second in school history for career assists and along with Skylar Diggins, are the only two in program history to finish with at least 1,400 career points and 700 career assists.

Ivey then went on to play five seasons in the WNBA before returning to her second home at Notre Dame as an assistant coach in 2007, then was later promoted to her current role as associate head coach in 2015.

Since joining the staff, the Irish have posted a 316-47 record, which is good for a .871 winning percentage, and have gone on to reach five Final Fours, four NCAA title games and 11 conference championships.

In addition, Ivey has had a major hand in grooming the extraordinary Irish guard talents who have continued her standard of success, most notably, All-Americans and current WNBA players Skylar Diggins, Jewell Loyd and Lindsay Allen.

“I’m so blessed to be able to come back to the community that has given me so much,” Ivey continued. “I’m truly blessed and fully appreciative of everyone that has been a part of my growth and development.”

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Josh Bates joined Fighting Irish Media as associate athletics communications director in July of 2017, serving as the women’s basketball and men’s golf contact. Bates earned both his bachelor’s (2011) and master’s (2014) degree in sports management from the University of Illinois. He also worked as a grad assistant at Illinois from 2012-14 and worked full-time at Tulane University from 2014-17.