BALTIMORE -- Longtime Johns Hopkins women's coach Nancy Funk has died.
The University announced on Wednesday that Funk died Tuesday night after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 66.
Funk had retired from the Blue Jays just nine months ago. She had coached for 31 seasons racking up 663 wins including 32 winning seasons. She led the Blue Jays to six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 1995-2000 and guided Hopkins to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1997 and 1998; Johns Hopkins also advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1995 and won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament in nine of its 10 appearances.
Funk started coaching for her alma mater, Messiah, in 1977. She coached the Falcons for nine seasons before moving to Baltimore in 1986. At Messiah, Funk was 126-89 (.586), but at Hopkins she accumulated a record of 537-264 (.670). Combined between the two schools, she had 32 winning seasons and while at Hopkins won 20 or more games 12 times.
Funk's 663 wins ranks ninth all-time in Division III history. She is one of just 20 Division III coaches to reach the 600-win plateau. Prior to arriving at Johns Hopkins, the women's basketball program had won 44 games in 11 seasons.
When Funk retired last April, she talked about how she came to her decision.
"Thirty-one years ago, legendary Director of Athletics Bob Scott gave me a tremendous opportunity when he offered me this position. His guidance and support, along with that of his successors, Tom Calder and Alanna Shanahan, made it a blessing to work at this University that I love and respect so very much."
Funk went on to say, "I cherish the 40 years of coaching that have allowed me to be a part of the lives of so many outstanding young women and their families, both during their time in college and beyond. The wonderful relationships with our alumni are very special -- I am truly grateful for those relationships."
Funk coached 80 all-conference (Centennial, UAA, MAC) selections, four Centennial Conference Players of the Year, six WBCA and one D3hoops.com All-America selection, two Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award winners and two NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients during her time at Hopkins. Ten of her players have been inducted into the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame and Funk herself joined that prestigious group in 2015. She has twice been named the Centennial Conference Coach of the Year and twice earned WBCA Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year honors as well.
Funk also won four Centennial Conference championships and hade 10 NCAA Tournament appareances during her tenure at Johns Hopkins.
She also gave back to the game serving a three-year term on the NCAA Division III women's basketball national committee and a six-year term on the regional committee. She had also served for more than 10-years as the Senior Women's Administrator at Johns Hopkins.
Funk was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, before her family moved to Harrisburg. She was a nurising major at Messiah with a minor in biology and later earned a master's degree from Western Maryland (now McDaniel) in secondary education.
Funk's family includes her husband, Dave, their children Jared, Courtney, and Kelsey, and five grandchildren.