Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin earns ESPN Coach of the Week Honors; Rebels Finish Regular Season with Most SEC Wins in Program History
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss Women’s basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin has been named ESPN’s National Coach of the Week for the final week of the regular season.
Here’s what Michael Voepel of ESPN.com writes:
“Coach Yo has turned around the program at Ole Miss. The Rebels cruised past Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas this past week, finishing with a program-record 12 SEC victories. A 12-4 mark is good for third place in the league. Consider four years ago — McPhee-McCuin’s second season trying to rebuild the program — Ole Miss went 0-16 in league play. Even then, though, she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. After four SEC wins in 2020-21, the Rebels have had double-digit league victories now the past three years in a row and reached the Sweet 16 last season.”
Michael Voepel, ESPN
Indeed, what a remarkable architect of the Rebel women’s basketball program Coach Yo has been, culminating this year, her sixth in Oxford, with the program’s record-breaking 12-win SEC season.
Ole Miss Women’s 🏀 wins its all-time program-best 12th SEC win by crushing the Razorbacks 87-43 in the regular season finale! Congratulations, Rebels!
Team & Individual Stats + 2024 Final Regular Season Standings ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/4O8g07hdOJ
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) March 3, 2024
In her first season in 2018-19, Coach Yo’s Rebels finished 9-22 overall and just 3-13 in the SEC. The next year, was even rougher as Ole Miss finished 7-23 overall, 0-16 in league play.
On Monday, we asked Coach Yo her thoughts on reaching 12 SEC wins for the first time in school history.
“I think 12 conference wins is an incredible accomplishment, especially being in the SEC!”
Coach Yo on reaching the record-breaking 12 SEC wins
But now, Coach Yo is in her third straight year of double-digit SEC wins. Her teams are known for grinding it out defensively, but they are also currently rolling up some big numbers on the offensive end of the court.
“As much as I’m excited, it’s what’s expected of us here by me and everyone else that understands the vision I have for this program. It took a while for sure, but things like this do not happen overnight.”
Coach Yo
The regular season finishes up with the Rebels holding that enviable 3-seed in the SEC Tournament, and there’s so much action and opportunity ahead for Coach Yo and her team.
Here’s the bracket for the tournament.
Rest assured, no top-seed in the NCAA tournament wants to see this team — or Coach Yo — in its bracket!
Next Up:
With their No. 3 finish in the SEC, Ole Miss earns a double-bye to the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday (March 8). Ole Miss will play the winner of game six at approximately 7:00 p.m. CT, on SEC Network.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
