MACON, Georgia (July 13, 2016) -- Former FIU Head Women's Basketball Coach Cindy Russo has earned entry into the Atlantic Sun Conference Hall of Fame, the league announced this week. Russo turned FIU into a TAAC/ASUN women's basketball powerhouse winning eight regular season titles, including seven straight. She guided the Panthers to six conference championships, including four consecutive from 1992-95. Several of Russo's student-athletes earned individual accolades, including three TAAC Conference Players of the Year, five Tournament MVPs, seven All-Americans and 26 All-Conference selections. Russo will be inducted alongside Daniel Murphy at the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on October 17 at the Sawgrass Marriott in Jacksonville, Florida.

Russo was the driving force behind the women's basketball team for 36 of the program's 41 years. Over that time, she has guided FIU to 22-consecutive winning seasons (1981-2003) and at least 20 victories on 18 occasions. Russo has led her teams to six NCAA Division I Tournament berths, seven Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournaments (WNIT), three NCAA Division II Tournaments and three AIAW Small College National Tournaments, in addition to winning nine regular season conference titles (including one in the Sun Belt) and seven tournament crowns. She has been recognized as a conference coach of the year seven times in three different leagues and has coached seven All-Americans including Jerica Coley, who finished her FIU career with 3,107 points (fifth all-time in NCAA history). Russo has the 14^th-most wins in Division I women's basketball history and owns a career record of 707-408 (.634) over 38 seasons, and a record of 667-386 (.633) in 36 seasons at FIU.
 
Russo began her coaching career at FIU in 1977 before spending two seasons at Lamar (1978-79; 1979-80) where she went 40-22. A native of Portsmouth, Va., Russo returned to FIU for the 1980-81 season.  
Russo and her coaching staff were one of the first pioneers in women's basketball to actively recruit overseas and bring international players to FIU. The fruits of those efforts began to blossom in the 1991-92 season. 
Andrea Nagy, born in Budapest, Hungary, became an All-American, and was the only four-time TAAC Tournament MVP and the only women's basketball player in league history to record 1,000 career assists. FIU led the conference in scoring during all four of Nagy's seasons, scoring 79.0 PPG in each of those four years. The 91-92 season began a run of seven consecutive regular season titles for Russo and FIU, an achievement that remains a conference record.

The international pipeline to Miami continued as Albena Branzova was named TAAC Player of the Year in 1995 and Dalma Ivanyi took the honor in 1998. Russo's teams became a dominant force in the league, while also making strides in the postseason. When the New South Women's Athletic Conference (NSWAC) transitioned into the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC), FIU won a game in the WNIT in 1992, then finished third in the 1993 WNIT postseason tournament.

Russo achieved another breakthrough the following season as her women's basketball team became the first team in FIU history to participate in the NCAA Tournament. They earned an eight seed in 1994 and narrowly lost to Clemson, 65-64. The defeat provided fuel for the next year when Russo's squad became the first TAAC women's basketball team to claim a victory in the NCAA Tournament, 81-76 over her alma mater Old Dominion. FIU would win one more NCAA Tournament game in 1998 and the Panthers remain the only TAAC/ASUN school to have two NCAA wins in women's basketball. 

The seven-time Coach of the Year concluded her career in the TAAC with a 250-77 mark (128-14 in NWSAC/TAAC). The Panthers achieved a total of 17 postseason appearances under Russo's guidance. Her 707 total wins rank her 15th on the all-time Division I women's basketball wins list.  

For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBB) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWBasketball) for all the latest FIU women's basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.