Cathy Parson
Catherine "Cathy" Parson is a women's basketball coach and is currently the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Stratford University. In 2013, Parson was selected as head coach of Frostburg State University's women's basketball team. Before landing at Frostburg State, Parson spent eight seasons as the head coach at Howard University, where she compiled a 99-100 record in her first seven seasons. She led the Lady Bison to two regular season MEAC titles. The 2001 team won the MEAC tournament title. In both 2000 and 2001, she was named the MEAC coach of the year.
She coached the MEAC player of the year in Andrea Gardner, who was also drafted in the WNBA. She served as the associate head coach at Richmond for a couple years. She served as the interim head coach of the Washington Mystics in 1998. From 1988 to 1998, she coached at Christopher Newport University, where she compiled a 183-83 record. While at CNU, she won two Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year awards. She coached the only player in NCAA history to score 2,000 points, and finish with 1,000 assists.
She was also an assistant coach at Providence College from 1985 to 1988. The Hagerstown, Maryland native was a basketball player at West Virginia. She is notable for being the first female athlete to receive an athletic scholarship there. She became one of the school's best players, scoring a school record 2,128 points in four seasons. She was the school's first female athlete to have her jersey retired. She is the first women ever to be a member of the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
