Blue Star Productions

LaVonda Wagner

LaVonda Wagner joins the Blue Star Family after spending over 20 years on the sidelines in the women’s game.  Her most recent college stint was as the head coach at Oregon State University for five seasons.  She engineered one of the top turnarounds in the history of the program as in 08-09 the Beavers won 20 games improving by eight victories from the previous season, one of the top marks in the nation. The Beavers made two Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) appearances in her five seasons as the head coach.
While she was busy rebuilding the Oregon State program, Wagner also began to take a leadership role on a national scale. Starting in 2007, she became a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Executive Team. She was named to the WBCA's Board of Directors in 2006. Wagner has also helped influence future coaches by speaking at the "So You Want To Be A Coach" seminar at the WBCA National Convention.

Wagner’s pedigree before coming to Oregon was one of the strongest in the country.  Prior to her appointment as head coach, she served on three successful coaching staffs as an assistant. She accumulated 17 years of experience at Duke, Illinois and East Tennessee State.

She posted 300 wins as an assistant and was involved in nine consecutive postseason appearances. Accustomed to success, Wagner has coached in the NCAA Final Four, two NCAA Elite Eight games, and two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances.

A native of Bristol, Va., Wagner spent three seasons (2002-05) as an assistant coach at Duke University, where she was heavily involved in recruiting, scouting and working with the Blue Devils' post players.   In her time at Duke, Wagner helped the Blue Devils bring in three top five national recruiting classes, including the top recruiting class in 2003 and the second-best recruiting class in 2005. Duke advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight in each of Wagner's three seasons and earned a trip to the 2003 NCAA Final Four.

Prior to joining Duke's staff, Wagner spent eight seasons at the University of Illinois (1994-02), where she played a large role in the rise of Illini basketball. She was instrumental in garnering one of the top five recruiting classes in 2000, while she attracted many of the top players from Illinois and recruited on a national scale.  While working at Illinois and Duke, Wagner was mentored by two of the most respected and successful coaches in the basketball ranks - Theresa Grentz (formerly of Illinois) and Gail Goestenkors (formerly of Duke).

Prior to arriving at Illinois, Wagner spent six seasons at East Tennessee State (1988-94) where she served as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Before joining the basketball ranks, Wagner coached volleyball at ETSU from 1986-88.

A successful student-athlete as well, Wagner earned National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-America honors in basketball and volleyball in 1986 at Mars Hill College in North Carolina. On Oct. 23, 1998, Wagner was inducted into the Mars Hill Hall of Fame.

Wagner earned a bachelor's degree in physical education with a minor in recreation from Mars Hill in 1986 and a master's degree in education with an emphasis in athletic administration from East Tennessee State in 1988.

Wagner branched outside of the coaching ranks by working as a television analyst on FSN during the 2006, 2007 and 2008 WNBA seasons and playoffs.  She presently resides in Virginia.