Wendell Hudson named new UA women's basketball coach

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama will officially announce Wendell Hudson as its eighth women’s basketball coach today.

Hudson will replace Stephany Smith, who was fired last week after three seasons.

Hudson has served as an Associate Athletic Director since 2003.

“I don’t think you ever really get out of coaching,” Hudson said at the Georgia Dome on Friday night. “It’s something I wanted to do. I’m looking forward to meeting the girls and getting started on recruiting.”

Hudson has been a head coach at North Alabama (1979-82), Rice (1982-83), Ole Miss (1983-85) and Baylor (1985-86).

He was selected as an Southeastern Conference Legend and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. Hudson was the first black athlete to segregate Alabama, playing for coach C.M. Newton from 1971-73.

During his playing career, Hudson had 826 rebounds in 69 games, which ranks 10th all time in Crimson Tide history. In 1972 he pulled down 340 rebounds, which is fourth all-time for UA.

In a recent profile about his impact on Alabama [reported by Chris Walsh] Hudson said the good that sports does outweighs the bad. “I know a lot times you hear the bad things about athletics, and everybody wants to talk about the bad things, but the number of young people, and people in general that I have seen athletics help outweighs everything I’ve heard and anyone might know about the bad stuff,” he said.

He inherits a program in need on an overhaul, with Alabama managing just four conference wins in the past three seasons. Alabama last made an NCAA Tournamnet appearance in 1999 and hasn’t won an SEC Tournament game since 2005. Alabama also lacks depth and experience. The 2008-09 Tide will field five upperclassmen, including just one senior (Camilla Blands).

Cecil Hurt and Chris Walsh contributed to this report.