Faith Mimnaugh - Head Coach - Women's Basketball Coaches

Faith Mimnaugh

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
fmimnaug@calpoly.edu
Phone:
805-756-1159

Faith Mimnaugh enters her 25th season as head coach of the Cal Poly women’s basketball program having led the Mustangs to the Big West Tournament semifinals in three of the last four years, as well as to either the NCAA Tournament or WNIT four times since 2011.

In 2021, Mimnaugh directed the Mustangs to the semifinals of the Big West Tournament in Las Vegas after a buzzer-beater victory in the quarterfinals over Long Beach State. Both forward Sierra Campisano and guard Abbey Ellis were named First Team All-Conference selections after each averaged better than 15 points per game for the season.

In 2020, Cal Poly opened the conference tournament with back-to-back wins, advancing to the semis at the Honda Center prior to the cancellation of the remainder of play due to COVID-19. During the pair of victories en route to Anaheim, the Mustangs saw Big West All-Freshman selection Abbey Ellis average 25.0 points, while All-Conference First Team honoree Sierra Campisano added 22.0 per game.

Ellis ranked 13th around the country in scoring among all freshmen nationally, while Campisano moved to No. 7 in school history for single-season scoring, culminating a year which saw the Mustangs set to face UC Davis with a trip to the title game on the line, before the stoppage.

Mimnaugh has coached Cal Poly to a 122-88 mark in conference play since 2009 — No. 2 in the Big West in that time span — also including a 2018 season which saw the Mustangs finish second in the Big West standings at 11-5 while going 17-12 overall.

As the 2018 Mustangs secured a double-bye, Dynn Leaupepe averaged 20.7 points per game to rank No. 20 nationally in scoring. College Sports Madness’ National Mid-Major Player of the Week on Jan. 8, 2018, Dynn graduated No. 3 in school history for career scoring, while her twin sister, Lynn Leaupepe, graduated as the No. 5 all-time rebounder. Both Leaupepe twins have gone on to successful pro careers overseas, with Dynn honored as the 2019 Dameligaen Player of the Year as a rookie for BK Amager (Kastrup, Denmark) prior to signing with Spanish LF2 club BAXI Ferrol; while Lynn signed with C.B. Jairis in Spain in 2020 after winning the Big V (Victoria, Australia) Youth Player of the Year accolade in her debut for the Sunbury Jets.

Meanwhile, off the court, Mimnaugh’s players have earned All-Academic honors from the conference 66 times, while Cal Poly women’s basketball achieved 100-percent Graduation Rates in both 2017 and 2018.

Additionally, Mary Kate Evans was named the overall Cal Poly Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year in both 2017 & 2018. Evans, a grad in BioMedical Engineering, was selected for Academic All-District Second-Team honors in February 2018, making her one of 12 student-athletes representing 46 Division I universities.

Altogether, Mimnaugh has seen her players named to the all-conference team 51 times, plus 11 all-freshman honors, 13 all-tournament selections and 50 player-of-the-week accolades through the 2020-21 season. From 2001 to 2019, Mimnaugh has also seen nine of her players receive the Big West Best Hustle Award.

Simultaneously since 2015, the Mustangs have made 19 appearances on WatchESPN and have played in front of four of the five largest home crowds in program history, each between 1,839 and 2,047 fans, part of a 111-54 Cal Poly performance at home (.673) since 2008.

During the 2014-15 season, Cal Poly guard Ariana Elegado was chosen as one of 30 Senior CLASS Award candidates across the country, while teammate Kristen Alé went on to play for the American Samoa National Team. A year earlier, the Mustangs reached the Conference Tournament Championship Game for the fourth time in a six-year span. While averaging a double-double, Molly Schlemer earned her second consecutive all-conference first-team status.

In 2013, Schlemer was named a FullCourt mid-major All-America honorable mention after finishing 10th in the country in field-goal percentage (54.2) while also being selected as the Conference Player of the Year and Big West Tournament MVP. After defeating Pacific in the Big West Tournament Championship, Cal Poly advanced to the NCAA Tournament where the Mustangs took on No. 3 seed Penn State, falling in the first round at LSU.

Previously in 2012, the Mustangs won their second regular-season conference title in a row. Kristina Santiago was fifth in the country in scoring at 23.4 points per game while becoming Cal Poly’s all-time leading scorer (1,953) and rebounder (851). Also in 2012, Jonae Ervin etched her name into the NCAA record book by tying to lead the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, at 2.67.

Mimnaugh was honored with her second Big West Coach of the Year award in 2011 after the Mustangs finished in first place. Cal Poly ranked 10th in the nation in 3-point shooting that season, led by Rachel Clancy, a guard who not only earned the Big West Player of the Year award but also was a third-team Academic All-American. Clancy went on to play professionally for Real Canoe Natación in Spain.

Santiago, who earned an AP All-American honorable mention, became a professional star overseas, winning three straight Bulgarian playoff MVP awards as her club, Dunav 8806, won a three-peat of NBL championships from 2013-15. Just as Clancy and Santiago before her, Schlemer also has excelled professionally in Europe. Combined for her career, Schlemer was awarded EuroBasket Player of the Week awards on six separate occasions between the German DBBL, Turkish TKBL & Greece A1.

Mimnaugh played at Loyola Chicago (1981-85) and remains the Ramblers’ career assists leader (1,000). The 316 assists Mimnaugh handed out during her 1984-85 senior season not only led the nation, but are still the 11th-highest single-season total in NCAA Division I history. Her 11.7 per-game figure as a senior remains the second-best average in Division I history. A four-year All-Mid-Suburban League and three-time all-area selection at Elk Grove High School in Illinois, Mimnaugh (1977-81) assisted the Grenadiers to the 1981 Class AA state championship. Selected to the 1981 all-state team, she helped Elk Grove compile an 84-22 mark during her four-year prep career.

Mimnaugh — inducted into the Loyola Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007 — began her professional career with the Newcastle (Australia) Scorpions, serving as a guard and player-coach from 1987-89.

She was then an assistant coach at North Carolina State from 1989-93. With the Wolfpack, she oversaw the operation of a program that reached as high as No. 2 in the national polls.

While working under legendary head coach Kay Yow (the 1988 U.S. Olympic coach), Mimnaugh helped propel the team to the 1990 ACC title and the 1991 ACC Tournament championship. The University of Evansville named Mimnaugh its head coach in 1993, and she led the Purple Aces in their move from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference up to the Missouri Valley. Mimnaugh, who competed with Athletes in Action in 1985 and is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, came to San Luis Obispo to serve as Karen Booker’s top assistant in 1996-97. Aside from her coaching duties at the time, she spearheaded the Mustangs’ weight-training program and assisted with recruiting.

Mimnaugh is a certified strength & conditioning specialist, credentialed through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and is also a member of the U.S. Weightlifting Federation.

She earned her master’s degree in sports administration from N.C. State in 1994.