Ohio Wesleyan University | Battling Bishop Athletics

Coach Nan Carney-DeBord

[ Nan Carney-DeBord ] Twenty-fifth-year head coach Nan Carney-DeBord has blazed trails never before seen by Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball.

The winningest women’s basketball coach in Ohio Wesleyan history, Carney-DeBord became the 33rd coach in NCAA Division III history to reach the 400-win mark when the Bishops defeated Hunter on Nov. 21, 2009. Ohio Wesleyan went on to post a 20-7 record, the Bishops' eighth 20-win season under Carney-DeBord, in 2009-10.

Carney-DeBord guided the Battling Bishops to the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament title, an NCAA Division III playoff berth, and an overall record of 17-12 during the 2008-09 season. The Bishops went 18-8 overall and tied for second place in the NCAC during the 2007-08 season. In 2002-03, the Bishops compiled an 18-10 record and finished in second place in the NCAC.

During the 2000-01 season, she piloted the Bishops to a 26-7 record. Ohio Wesleyan advanced to the NCAA Division III semifinals after winning the NCAC championship for the fifth time. She capped that magical season by being named the Russell Athletic/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year.

[ Nan Carney-DeBord ] A 7-time selection as NCAC Coach of the Year, Carney-DeBord also was named Coach of the Year in 2000, when Ohio Wesleyan was 23-3 and won the NCAC championhip; in 1999, when the Bishops went 21-7 and won the NCAC championship; in 1993, when the Bishops compiled a 21-6 mark and won an outright NCAC title; in 1992, after the Bishops went 23-2, won their first NCAC tournament and earned their first-ever NCAA Division III playoff bid; in 1988, after leading the Bishops to a 16-10 mark, including a 10-2 league mark and the second of her 7 second-place finishes; and in 1986, when her team finished second in the NCAC and upset Division III quarterfinalist Muskingum on the Muskies’ home court.

Her effect on the Ohio Wesleyan field hockey program was just as magical. She guided the Bishops to their first national ranking in 1986, then topped that in 1987, starting a string of 4 straight NCAC titles and NCAA Division III playoff appearances that would continue through the end of her tenure in 1990.

Carney-DeBord came to Ohio Wesleyan from Bethany (W.Va.) College, where she was head field hockey and softball coach and assistant basketball mentor. Her field hockey squads won Pennwood West Conference titles in 1983 and 1984.

Carney-DeBord is a 1980 graduate of Denison University, where she lettered 4 times each in basketball and field hockey. A wing and point guard in basketball, she was team captain and MVP as a senior. As a field hockey back, she was a team captain for 3 years and led one team to a 13-0 record. She was inducted into Denison’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. She earned her master’s degree from Kent State and is a professor of physical education at Ohio Wesleyan.

Carney-DeBord and her husband, Jack, have 2 sons, Tyler and T.J.

E-mail Head Coach Nan Carney-DeBord

Back to the main Women's Basketball page
Back to the main Coaching Staff page