Beginning her 17th season, Carmen Dolfo already has established herself as a historic figure in Western athletics and as one of the top coaches in NCAA Division II.
Dolfo is the first person to represent Western in national tournament competition as a player, assistant coach and head coach in any sport. Her career record of 347-122 puts her No.29 among active coaches in NCAA II in victories, and her 16 seasons are fewer than any coach ahead of her. Her winning percentage of 74.0 ranks No.12 among active NCAA II coaches.
Dolfo became Western's head coach in 1990 after four seasons as an assistant coach. She has directed the Vikings to 13 20-win seasons, including eight in the last nine years, and 10 consecutive national tournament appearances (all but one as member of NCAA Division II) - Western reaching the semifinals of the Elite Eight in 2000.
Western has also won four conference championships during Dolfo's tenure. Dolfo was Great Northwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2006 and has also won Coach of the Year honors three other times.
Dolfo came to Western in 1984 after spending two seasons playing at Biola University, and played two years of basketball for the Vikings, earning NAIA All-America honors as a senior, when she averaged 16.8 points a game, the third-best mark of the last 20 years by a Western player. She also lettered three years at Western as a setter in volleyball. In her four years of basketball, Dolfo scored 1,757 points and grabbed 896 rebounds.
After her playing career, which concluded with the Vikings reaching the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament in 1986, Dolfo was an assistant coach under Lynda Goodrich in 1986-90. The Vikings had a 95-28 record (.778) in that time, and again reached the NAIA quarterfinals in 1989.
Dolfo is currently a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors. She has served on the Kodak All-American Selection Committee as well as the WBCA national rating committee and the West Region rating committee.
The 42-year old Dolfo grew up in Penticton, B.C., where she led Penticton High School to the provincial championship as a senior. She earned a bachelor's degree from Western in 1986 and a master's in student personnel administration from Western in 1996. Dolfo and husband John Garrison have two daughters, Kennedy 7 and Aspen 5, and son John Grey 3.
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