NEW YORK – St. John's head coach Kim Barnes Arico has been hired to coach the Michigan women's basketball team.
Barnes Arico coached the Red Storm for the past 10 seasons and guided them to a second-place finish in the Big East this past year, including a victory at Connecticut in February that ended the Huskies' 99-game home winning streak.
St. John's advanced to the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history last month before losing to Duke.
The 41-year-old coach, who has the most wins in program history, has built St. John's into a perennial NCAA tournament team. This past season the Red Storm started off 5-5 before getting injured players back. They won 14 of 16 games at one point, including the victory over UConn.
Barnes Arico, who was the Big East coach of the year, guided the Red Storm to six upsets of ranked opponents this season — including four on the road.
"We thank Kim for the great work she has done lifting our program to a prominent level," said St. John's director of athletics Chris Monasch in a statement. "The foundation has been built and the aspiration of our program is to continue to compete among the nation's best. Our appreciation and best wishes go out to Kim and her family."
Barnes Arico succeeds Kevin Borseth, who left the school to go back to Wisconsin-Green Bay this month. The Wolverines went 20-12 this season, which ended in an NCAA tournament loss at Oklahoma. It was Michigan's first trip to the NCAAs since 2001. Borseth had spent the past five seasons at Michigan after leaving Green Bay.
The Red Storm elevated Joe Tartamella to interim head coach.
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