Last year, Kelly guided the Lumberjacks to 11 wins, more than doubling their win total from the previous season. NAU won six Big Sky games, finishing the season strong with conference wins in two of their last-three games. Sophomore guard Amy Patton became just the 12th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points and was the first to do so in only two seasons. Patton averaged a Big Sky-best 16.4 points per game in earning an All-Big Sky second team selection. NAU led the conference in steals per game (11.1) and turnover margin (+ 3.45) for the season.

Academics continue to shine for NAU women's basketball under Kelly's direction, as the Lumberjacks recorded a team GPA of 3.15 during the 2010-11 season. NAU placed five players on the Big Sky All-Academic team last season, with senior Jenna Galloway recording a perfect 4.00 GPA. Ten members of the 2010-11 squad were Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete award winners after 12 players received the honor in 2009-10.

Kelly lost several key starters prior to the 2009-10 season, but produced the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year, Amy Patton, and Newcomer of the Year, Vickie Toney. Patton broke the 23-year old single season scoring recording and 25-year old school record for most field goals in a season. She became the first non-post player to lead the conference in scoring and rebounding during league play. Toney ended the year No. 57 in NCAA Division I women's basketball with 4.7 assists per game.

In 2008-09, Kelly coached NAU to its 14th consecutive Big Sky Conference Tournament where the Lumberjacks lost to Montana State, a fate they also suffered in the quarterfinals the year before. Senior Sade Cunningham, the program's all-time leader in assists, earned All-Big Sky Conference second team honors for the second straight year. In 2007-08, Cunningham earned the honor along with then-senior Laura Dinkins. Cunningham graduated after setting numerous program records and becoming the 12th player at NAU to score 1,000 points.

In 2006-07, Kelly coached the first-ever NAU team to defeat a ranked opponent, as the Lumberjacks took down #25 Montana on the home court of the Lady Griz in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. NAU went on to play in its second-straight Big Sky Tournament final but fell just short of another automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

Alyssa Wahl, a 2007 graduate of NAU, was coached all four years of her career by Kelly and became the leading scorer in NAU basketball in 2008, finishing her career with 1,678 points. Two years ago, Wahl continued her career past college when she played for a professional team in Sweden.

NAU finished the 2005-06 season with an overall record of 22-11, improving on the success of the 2004-05 team that finished with a 19-10 record. NAU went 9-5 in the Big Sky regular season in both 2004-05 and 2005-06, but became the first team to ever win the Big Sky Tournament as the third seed in 2005-06. That season marked NAU's 11th consecutive Big Sky Tournament berth, and the Lumberjacks have now advanced 14 times in a row.

Kelly earned a significant personal honor during the 2005-06 season, as she was selected to the NCAA Division III 25th Anniversary Team. Twenty-five players were named to the original ballot and only five selected to the final team.

Kelly has produced nine All-Big Sky Conference selections over the last six years, including two in 2007-08, two in 2006-07, Wahl and Kim Winkfield, and two in 2005-06, Wahl and Nicky Eason. Wahl also earned Big Sky Tournament MVP honors in 2006. Three years ago, Laura Dinkins was honored as the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year. Wahl, Eason and Megan Porter all earned ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honors in 2006.

The 2004-05 NAU squad finished with a record of 19-10 and advanced to the Big Sky Tournament semifinals. Seven members of the team earned Big Sky All-Academic honors, and former point guard Teresa Diaz graduated with summa cum laude distinction and a Presidential Prize, the highest honor a NAU senior can be awarded. The Lumberjacks earned a 3.392 GPA for the school year as a team, ranking in a tie for ninth on the WBCA Top 25 Honor Roll.

Kelly had the challenge of molding a young team in 2003-04 - a squad that included eight freshmen and sophomores on a roster of 11 student-athletes - and making it competitive on a regional level. Kelly helped guide the team into the league postseason for a ninth consecutive time and helped develop Lacey Tolbert into an All-Big Sky Conference honoree and Wahl as the Outstanding Freshman in a vote of the league's eight head coaches.

Kelly came to NAU following five successful years as head coach at Binghamton University in Vestal, N.Y. She was in charge of the Binghamton program while it made the transition from the NCAA Division II level to Division I. After guiding Binghamton to a 75-13 mark in its final three years on the NCAA Division II level, Kelly made the most of the Bearcats' first season of Division I basketball in 2001-02. She guided her squad to a 19-9 record, including a 10-6 record in the America East Conference. Both Kelly and the team were recognized for their success, as the coach was named the New York State Basketball Coaches' Association Co-Coach of the Year. The Bearcats had a pair of players named to the All-America East Conference teams (Sarah Cartmill and Kate Townley), as well as the conference player of the year (Cartmill).

In the 2000-01 season, Kelly's squad overcame a rocky start, winning 14 of its final 15 games to finish 22-7. Binghamton concluded its status as a Division II program in perfect fashion, defeating Dowling and Adelphi to win its second consecutive ECAC title.

The previous season, Kelly orchestrated a near-perfect season, leading Binghamton to a 27-2 record. Binghamton lost just one Division II game, and rode a school-record 16-game win streak to the program's first-ever ECAC Championship. Along the way, the Bearcats went 16-0 in the New England College Conference (NECC) and repeated as conference champions. Kelly was an overwhelming choice as Coach of the Year after guiding Binghamton to the first undefeated NECC season in nine years. A total of 12 team records were broken, including marks for most wins (27), fewest losses (two) and win percentage (.931).

In her first season as head coach, Kelly steered Binghamton to a then-school record 26-4 mark. The 1998-99 team made an immediate transformation from a Division III program into a national-caliber Division II program.

After being promoted from assistant coach to head coach just prior to the season, Kelly rallied her team to a school-record 12 consecutive victories to open the season. Despite being a Division II "rookie," Binghamton climbed its way into the national rankings and atop the NECC, where Kelly's team owned a 15-3 mark by season's end. With a share of the conference regular-season title in hand, Binghamton saved its finest play for post-season, where it dismantled NECC opponents by an average of 24 points en route to the conference championship. The team capped its historic season by earning the third seed at the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional and a final national ranking of 24th.

Kelly arrived in Binghamton in June 1998, after serving as a graduate assistant coach at Division II Mankato State University (Minn.) for two seasons. In that time, she was responsible for post-position coaching and scouting, and assisted with on-the-floor coaching and recruiting. While at Mankato State, she also taught in the school's human performance department and directed the basketball camps.

One of the greatest collegiate players in NCAA Division III history, Kelly led the powerhouse St. Thomas program to 98 wins during her career, capped by a national championship in 1991. A gifted athlete at 6-1, Kelly was virtually unstoppable in the post. She scored 2,607 points and pulled down 1,204 rebounds in four years, earning Kodak All-America honors three consecutive seasons. In her senior season (1992-93), Kelly was voted National Player of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association after averaging more than 26 points per game. She set 22 conference and 24 school records, was conference MVP three times and was also named Midwest Sports Channel NCAA Division III Women's Athlete of the Year.

During her tenure at St. Thomas, the Tommies went 98-15 overall, including a 72-8 mark in conference play. At one point, the program won 40 consecutive games to set an NCAA Division III record. Kelly ended her career as the school's all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and blocks, and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1998.

In April of 2009, Kelly became one of 77 all-time inductees into the Rochester Quarterbacks Club Hall of Fame, a big honor in her home state of Minnesota.

Kelly earned a bachelor's degree with honors in speech communications at St. Thomas in 1993 and earned her master's degree in sports administration from Minnesota State University Mankato in 2005.

Chad Eickhoff returns to the program for his fourth season as an assistant coach under ninth-year head coach Laurie Kelly. Eickhoff came to NAU from St. Cloud State, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach. His responsibilities at NAU include working with the post players, scouting, academic mentoring, and serving as the recruiting coordinator.

While at St. Cloud State, Eickhoff was heavily involved in the recruiting process, and was named the “college coach most seen at high school games” by Kevin Anderson’s Girls Basketball Recruit website which covers basketball in the Midwest.

Eickhoff attended the University of Minnesota where he majored in elementary education, and he is nearing completion of his master’s degree in sport management from St. Cloud State.

He was the Assistant Director of Pam Borton's Minnesota Basketball Camps in 2005-07 and an assistant varsity girl’s basketball coach at DeLaSalle High School from 2004 to 2006. Eickhoff has also been the head ninth grade girl’s basketball coach at DeLaSalle and was the head Islanders 14U AAU Girls basketball coach in 2005.

Eric Fundalewicz, a 2000 graduate of Northern Arizona University, has been hired as an assistant coach for the NAU women's basketball program for the 2011-12 season. Fundalewicz has 11 years of collegiate coaching experience, having started as an NAU student assistant as an undergrad. He works with the NAU guards while also assisting with game scheduling, scouting and recruiting.

The well-traveled Fundalewicz (pronounced Fun-duh-LEV-itch) spent last year as the head men's basketball coach at Yavapai College in Prescott after spending the previous four seasons as an assistant coach. Following a 2009-10 season with just three victories, Fundalewicz turned the program around last year, as the Roughriders recorded 12 wins. The school decided to cut its men's and women's basketball programs following the 2010-11 season.

Fundalewicz also began his post-graduate coaching career at Yavapai College, where he was a women's basketball assistant from 2000-03. He then spent one year as an assistant with the Cal State Northridge women's basketball program and two years at St. Francis (PA), which included a Northeastern Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament berth in 2005. Despite working with men's basketball since 2006, Fundalewicz has a wealth of women's coaching experience and is excited to return to the women's side.

Born in Boston, Fundalewicz grew up living throughout the United States and Japan while moving with his military family. He joined his father in Mesa when the elder Fundalewicz retired, living in the Arizona valley for three years before enrolling at NAU.

Fundalewicz and his wife, Raigan, met while both were students at NAU and were married in May 2000. The couple has two children, daughter Kree, age seven, and son Coley, age four.

Laura Dinkins is in her second year as an assistant coach after returning to NAU women's basketball after a successful playing career for the Lumberjacks. As part of the NAU coaching staff, Dinkins works with the NAU guards and assists with recruiting, scouting, and academic mentoring. Her duties also include game preparation, coordinating team travel, and overseeing community service done by student-athletes and staff.

Dinkins played forward at NAU from 2003-08 and produced one of the most decorated careers in program history.  She is second all-time at NAU with 714 rebounds and second all-time with 252 rebounds in a single season.  She ranks first in minutes played at NAU with 1,144.

Dinkins was a part of the 2005-06 basketball team that won NAU's first Big Sky Championship and earned the first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. That year, the Lumberjacks became the first team ever to win three games in the conference tournament to clinch the title.

She was also named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year in her junior season and was selected All-Big Sky second team as a senior.  Dinkins was a four-time NAU Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete Award recipient and Big Sky All-Academic honoree in 2004.

Originally from Rialto, Calif., Dinkins earned her undergraduate degree in health sciences from Northern Arizona in 2008 and is currently persuing a masters degree in educational leadership.