Bob Boldon Hired as New Head Coach of the Ohio University Women's Basketball Team

Ohio University announced the hiring of Bob Boldon as the new head coach of the Ohio women's basketball team Thursday afternoon. Boldon was hired to replace former Ohio coach Semeka Randall. Randall was fired after going 50-112 during her five years as Ohio's head coach, including a 6-23 (1-14 MAC) this past season.

"Bob Boldon is the right fit for what we were looking for ... it became very apparent that Bob Boldon was the best choice for what we were seeking," said Ohio University Athletic Director Jim Schaus.

Boldon, 37, spent the past three seasons as the head coach of the Youngstown State women's basketball team. There he orchestrated one of the more impressive program turnarounds in recent history. The season before he was hired the Penguins went 0-30. By the end of his third season (this past season) he led the Penguins to a 23-10 (11-5 Horizon) record before losing to Toledo in the second round of the women's National Invitational Tournament.

Boldon has six total years of head coaching experience, including two previous head coaching jobs before Youngstown State at the University of Arkansas at Monticello from 2004-to-2006 and at Lambuth University, an NAIA school, in 2008-2009. He has a career record of 69-81 as a women's college basketball head coach.

"He has won everywhere he's been with an exciting style of play," said Ohio University president Roderick McDavis.

Boldon also has 13 years of experience as an assistant coach, including stops at Walsh University, Willmington College and Gannon University. He spent a season at Florida Gulf Coast University (yes the same FGCU that has stolen the spotlight in this years men's tournament) as an assistant on the women's team for the 2009-2010 season and helped lead FGCU to a 24-7 record and a bid in the WNIT.

Boldon is no stranger to rebuilding programs and knows he has his work cut out for him at Ohio. The 'Cats have struggled mightily over the past five seasons. They haven't won more than 14 games in a season (2011-2012) since they went 20-13 under former 'Cats head coach Sylvia Crawley. Crawley left Ohio following that season to become the head coach of the Boston College women's basketball team. Boldon admits it won't be easy to turn the Ohio program around.

"The conference is really good, I think night in and night out it's going to be a battle ... you're going to have some tough games night in and night out, your going to have some tough games on the road. I think the parity in the MAC is probably the toughest challenge right now," Boldon said.

But Boldon has previous experience as an assistant in the MAC where he helped orchestrate a turnaround of the Zips program under current head coach Jodi Kest from 2006-2008. The Zips were 23-10 this past season under Boldon's old boss.

Boldon and Ohio have agreed in principle to a 5-year initial contract, with a base salary of $170,000. Lots of details to be settled yet

— Jason Arkley (@JasonAmessenger) March 28, 2013