Courtney Boyd hopes to build winning culture with Valparaiso women's basketball

More than 60 people gathered, including eight of the Beacons' 12 head coaches, at the ARC Monday morning to watch VU president Jose D.

Padilla and athletic director Laurel Hosmer introduce Boyd as the program's ninth head coach.

Men's basketball coach Roger Powell joined the crowd with his entire coaching staff among numerous assistant coaches across all sports.

As Boyd approached the podium, her wife, Ali Boyd, cheered from the first row as their two daughters Sophie, 4, and Zoey, 2, sat beside her in matching pink dresses.

Boyd's parents and sisters smiled brightly from a couple of rows back.

Boyd a two-time conference coach of the year spent the past two seasons at Division II Quincy University in Illinois.

This past season Boyd led the Hawks to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016 and the program's first conference tournament title since 2005.

She previously had a six-year stint at Clarke where she guided the Pride to an NAIA national title during the 2022-23 season.

"We're going to be a high-energy, competitive program that trusts each other, works hard for one another and recruits student-athletes that have passion," Boyd said at Monday's press conference.

Boyd said her main objective is to instill confidence in her players while they work together to create a winning culture.

The Beacons concluded this past season 13-19 after losing to Bradley in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

VU announced it and former coach Mary Evans had mutually agreed to part ways March 18.

The program hasn't had a winning season since 2020.

Padilla said he couldn't name a more qualified coach than Boyd who was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association 30 Under 30 in 2017.

Padilla said the university understands growth may not come instantly but everyone will rally around her.

"We know it's going to be much better with you," Padilla said.

"It's going to be an honor and privilege to see your growth and evolve these young women to their maximum capacity." While Boyd coached at Quincy, her team had a 15-win improvement between her first and second seasons.

Between her tenures at Clarke and Quincy, Boyd has amassed a 190-68 career record which includes five NAIA Tournament appearances.

Hosmer said she was immediately struck by Boyd's confidence and humility as a groundwork to build winning programs.

"Coach Boyd is a relentless competitor and I know she's eager to build success the right way with the right people," Hosmer said.

Moving forward, Boyd said her team will have a purpose for how it operates on the floor and will play man-to-man defense as much as possible.

"We're going to pressure teams depending on the time and score.

We are going to run more of a free-flowing offense that's going to give opportunity for our student-athletes to show what they're capable of," she said.

Another mission of Boyd's will be to build connections with prep coaches to recruit players locally.

She wants to motivate high schoolers to want to play college ball in Northwest Indiana and ensure players spend the duration of their collegiate career at Valpo.

Once her program can create a culture, she believes it'll be even more appealing to represent the Beacons.

Boyd said she has already begun working on creating relationships inside the university.

As long as she's the coach, she said her office door will remain unlocked.

"Honestly, I want to know about the players, and I want to know whether they have a dog or fish or cat," she said.

"If I don't know those things, the day that my passion comes out a little more aggressively, then they're going to question where that's coming from." If she can create meaningful relationships with her players, Boyd said they'll be less likely to question why she's asking them to try harder or do something at a higher pace.

"The cameras, excitement and those types of things, that's not why I do it," Boyd said.

"I do it because of the people that show up in the stands, the coaching staff and the players.".

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