Tanya Warren

Tanya Warren is the head women's basketball coach at the University of Northern Iowa and was named the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.

College career

From 1983 to 1988, Warren played basketball at Creighton. She holds school records for career assists with 650, and season assists with 228. She was selected to the WNIT all-tournament team in 1987. Her jersey was retired in 1988 to honor her contributions.

Warren earned several accolades in her four seasons as a player at Creighton. She holds the CU record for assists in a career and a season. Her 228 assists in 1987 ranked 10th nationally, and ranks seventh on Creighton’s career scoring chart with 1,566 points. She averaged 18.7 points per game in 1987, and she was named to the WNIT all-tournament team and was a Kodak District V selection that season.

Warren’s No. 10 jersey is one of two retired numbers at Creighton, and she is also a member of the Creighton University Hall of Fame. Her collegiate career followed an impressive career at Des Moines Lincoln High School, where she was eventually inducted into both the Lincoln High School Hall of Fame and the Iowa High School Girls Hall of Fame.

Duchesne and Boys Town High School

Before joining the Cyclones, she spent two seasons as the head girls coach at Duchesne High School in Omaha, Neb., leading the team to its first state tournament appearance in the program’s history. Warren’s coaching career began with a four-year term as the head girls’ coach at Boys Town High School in Omaha.

ISU assistant

Warren’s first collegiate coaching experience was at Iowa State University, where she spent one season as an assistant from 1994 to 1995.

UNI assistant

From 1995 to 2001 she was an assistant coach at the University of Northern Iowa under Tony DiCecco. She coached several of the best players in UNI program history, including current assistant Kelley (Westhoff) Jacobs. She also helped develop UNI’s all-time scoring leader, Amy Swisher, as well as first-team all-MVC selections Allison (Starr) Pohlman, Alex Cook, Abbie Schutte, Kary Dawson, and Katie Miller.

Warren joined the Panther program in DiCecco’s first season, inheriting a team that won just four games the year prior. UNI improved its number of wins by at least three in each of the first four seasons under the new staff, and in 2001 Warren helped lead UNI to an 18-win season and its first postseason appearance when the Panthers earned a bid to the WNIT.

U of Missouri assistant

From 2001 to 2004, Warren served as an assistant at the University of Missouri. In those three years, the Tigers made three postseason appearances, including a trip to the NCAA tournament in 2004. She also worked as the recruiting coordinator at Missouri, and she coached five all-Big 12 selections, two of whom went on to play in the WNBA.

Creighton associate head coach, 2004-2007

Warren, a 1988 graduate of Creighton University, returned to her alma mater in 2004 where she was the associate head coach. In three seasons with the Bluejays, she helped lead Creighton to a WNIT appearance in 2005 and the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship game in 2007.

Warren was instrumental in developing Megan Neuvirth, the 2007 MVC Newcomer of the Year, as well as Sam Schuett who was named to the 2007 MVC all-freshmen team. During her tenure at Creighton, she coached three all-MVC players.

UNI head coach, 2007-present

Warren came to the Northern Iowa Panthers after accumulating 13 years of Division I collegiate coaching experience. In her first season at the helm for the Panthers, Warren led a team composed primarily of freshmen and sophomores to a 13-18 overall record and an 8-10 conference mark and sixth-place Missouri Valley Conference finish. UNI collected wins over eventual MVC co-champions Illinois State and Drake. Warren helped the Panthers take care of business at home, finishing with a 9-5 mark in the McLeod Center, including a 6-3 record against league opponents.

Under Warren’s watch, Jacqui Kalin was tabbed the MVC Freshman of the Year, and the point guard also collected second-team all-conference honors. The 2007-08 Panthers also finished with the sixth-highest GPA among NCAA Division I teams.

In 2008-09, Warren led an injury-plagued team to an 11-19 overall mark and a 9-9 record and sixth-place finish in the MVC. Junior Kim Wypiszynski was tabbed the league’s Newcomer of the Year, and she earned second-team all-conference honors. K.K. Armstrong was named to The Valley’s all-freshman team. UNI also finished with the sixth-highest GPA among Division I teams that season.

In 2009-10, Warren led the Panthers to a historic season as UNI won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. UNI finished 17-16 on the season, posting wins over three higher-seeded teams in the Valley Tournament to earn the automatic berth. Jacqui Kalin was named a first-team all-conference selection, and Lizzie Boeck was an honorable mention. Kalin, Boeck, and Erin Brocka were also academic all-conference selections. The Panthers also finished the season with the seventh-highest team GPA in the nation.

In 2010-11, she guided the Panthers to a 27-6 overall record and a 17-1 Valley record as UNI finished the conference season five games better than the second-place teams. UNI won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the second-straight year, earning the school's second NCAA Tournament appearance. She coached a pair of first-team MVC all-conference selections in Lizzie Boeck and Jacqui Kalin, and Kalin was tabbed the school's first-ever Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year. Kalin was also named the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Erin Brocka earned a spot on the all-defensive team.