Bill Carr finished his eighth season as the Santa Clara University women's basketball head coach in 2023-24. His 119 wins are the second most by a head coach in team history. He has coached 15 All-West Coast Conference honorees and the Broncos first individual award winner in 17 years when Tess Heal won WCC Freshman of the Year in 2023.
The 2023-24 season was one of the most successful in program history as Carr led the Broncos to 25 wins, the second-most ever, and a birth as a four-seed in the inaugural WBIT. Santa Clara hosted the first round, just the second home postseason game the team has hosted, and beat BYU 60-59 for the program's first postseason win since a 1992 victory in the first round of the WNIT.
The Broncos set program bests with 12 nonconference wins, 11 road wins, and seven wins in November. They took care of business at home, going 13-1 for a .929 winning percentage, the second highest ever. Santa Clara also went 12-4 in the WCC and took second place, the highest conference winning percentage since the team went 11-3 (.786) in 2005-06 and the highest finish since 2007-08.
Santa Clara also had three wins against Power 5 teams, topping Arizona State and Oregon on the road during the regular season and BYU in the postseason. The wins over the Sun Devils and Ducks gave the Broncos two wins over Pac-12 opponents in the same season for the first time since 1993-94 (then the Pac-10) when they beat UCLA and Washington State.
The Broncos set program bests in free throw percentage (81.4, second in the country), field goal attempts (1,995) and 3-point attempts (758). They were second in total points (2,365) and 3-pointers made (271) and third in field goals made (856) and total rebounds (1,249). Their scoring margin (+10.4) and total assists (510) were fifth in program history.
Individually, Tess Heal and Olivia Pollerd led the team, both nabbing First Team All-WCC nods.
During the 2022-23 campaign, Carr led the team to 15 wins, including a 77-72 win over No. 17 Gonzaga on February 2.
The individual highlight of the season was the performance of true freshman Tess Heal. Heal was named WCC Newcomer of the Year, First Team All-WCC, and Freshman All-WCC in addition to taking home a conference record 12 WCC Freshman of the Week nods. It was the program's first individual conference award in 17 years.
Carr helped the Broncos to 16 wins during the 2021-22 season, including eight West Coast Conference victories. During the season, Lindsey VanAllen had one of the best seasons in program history, averaging 19.2 points per game and being named First Team All-WCC. She also became the 27th Bronco with 1,000 career points and finished No. 7 on the career scoring list with 1,340. After the season, VanAllen signed a professional contract. Merle Wiehl was also named Second Team All-WCC after the season.
The Broncos had a strong season during the 2020-21 campaign despite playing home games in Santa Cruz, Calif., for much of the season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The team went 14-11 and 9-8 in conference action as they earned the fourth seed in the WCC Tournament where they made it to the semifinals. Wiehl, named to the WCC All-Tournament team, and VanAllen were named Second Team All-WCC. Ashley Hiraki made the all-freshmen team and senior Ashlyn Herlihy took home honorable mention accolades for the second season in a row.
Carr helped three players earn All-WCC honors during the 2018-19 season. Junior guard Tia Hay was named to the second team with redshirt sophomore Herlihy being named honorable mention and VanAllen making the all-freshmen squad. The team won 14 games.
In 2017-18, Morgan McGwire was named All-WCC honorable mention under the tutelage of Carr.
During the 2016-17 season, Carr guided the Broncos to 14 wins and nine in WCC play during his first season at the helm. He coached three all-WCC selections in Lori Parkinson, Marie Bertholdt, and Emily Wolph.
Carr had been a men’s head basketball coach for 11 years and compiled a record of 202-132 (.601) at Point Loma Nazarene, UC San Diego, and Spring Hill College. In all, he has more than 33 years of coaching experience, including extensive West Coast Conference experience, with Division I stops as associate head coach at San Diego and as an assistant at San Francisco. Carr also spent time at Long Beach State as an assistant.
Prior to Santa Clara, Carr spent five years as the leader of Point Loma Nazarene. The Sea Lions made the move from NAIA to Division II in 2012 under Carr. Despite these challenges, the PLNU men's basketball program thrived in the five seasons under Carr, posting a record of 81-63 (.563).
The Sea Lions won 20 or more games with Carr at the helm in three of his five seasons and made the postseason three times.
Carr led PLNU to a 13-14 record and coached the PacWest Freshman of the Year in Josh Rodriguez in 2015-16.
In 2014-15, Carr guided the Sea Lions to a record of 21-8 and a No. 5 seed in the PacWest Championships after posting a 13-7 record in league play. PLNU opened the season with five straight wins to climb to No. 22 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches rankings, marking the first time any Sea Lion team had ever been ranked at the NCAA Division II level.
Carr’s teams at Point Loma recorded a number of benchmarks. In 2014-15 Hayden Lescault was a first team all-PacWest Conference selection, the first such honor in the history of the men's basketball program, while Marek Klassen earned third team accolades. The Sea Lions also finished the year ranked No. 5 nationally in 3-point percentage with a .419 mark from long range. Sam Okhotin led the way by finishing sixth in the nation with a .475 shooting percentage from behind the arc.
In 2013-14, Carr led Point Loma to the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) West Region title and National Championship. The Sea Lions entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed before winning all three games in Winona Lake, Ind., to capture the fourth NCCAA men's basketball championship in the history of the school.
In 2011-12, Carr was named GSAC Co-Coach of the Year while two of his players, Rhett Beal and Greg Murray, earned all-conference honors. Beal was later named as an honorable mention All-American. The Sea Lions qualified for the NAIA National Championships and notched a 74-44 opening-round win over Texas Wesleyan before falling to top-ranked Shorter.
Carr arrived at PLNU from the University of San Diego where he spent four years (2007-11) as associate head coach for the NCAA Division I Toreros.
During Carr’s tenure at USD the Toreros won the WCC Tournament title in 2008 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. USD beat the University of Connecticut in the first round for the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.
Prior to USD, Carr was at UC San Diego for three years (2004-07) as head coach. In his second season at the helm, Carr led UCSD to a 15-14 record, marking the school’s first winning season since moving to the NCAA Division II level in 2000.
Carr’s resume also includes two seasons as the associate head coach at Long Beach State (2002-04).
He was the head coach at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama for three years (1999-2002). He accumulated a career mark of 84-23 (.785) with the Badgers and led them to three appearances in the NAIA National Tournament, including two "final eight" trips.
In his first season Carr led Spring Hill to a 29-8 mark and a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) championship. Carr was named the 1999-2000 GCAC Coach of the Year that season and was a finalist for the NAIA National Coach of the Year.
As a player, Carr competed for two seasons (1985-87) at the University of San Francisco under coach Jim Brovelli. His first campaign at USF was the "Back to Basketball" group that marked the restart of the program after a three-year hiatus.
Carr earned a degree in accounting at USF and later began his coaching career there, spending nine years as an assistant for Brovelli (1990-95) and Phil Mathews (1995-99). He helped recruit and mentor 10 First Team All-WCC performers, including the 1998 and 2000 WCC Freshmen of the Year. USF advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1998 after winning the West Coast Conference Tournament championship in then-Toso Pavilion, currently Leavey Center.
Bill and his wife, Pam, are the proud parents to three children: Lexi, Madison, and Paul ‘21.
