LeTourneau Athletics Hall of Fame
A decorated coach and administrator, Mary Ann Otwell left her mark on LeTourneau athletics.
Hired on to restart the women's basketball program in 1994, Otwell spent seven seasons as the head coach of the YellowJackets and led the start-up program to national success.
Her teams won back-to-back NCCAA national championships -- the only team national titles in LeTourneau history -- and captured five conference championships along the way during Otwell's run from 1994-2001. Otwell then stayed within administrative roles at LeTourneau, including serving on the Hall of Fame committee.
Otwell's 1996-97 team went 30-4 with a 20-game winning streak en route to the first NCCAA national title. Her YellowJackets led the NAIA in scoring margin at +27.1 and were ranked No. 1 in the NCCAA and as high as No. 23 in the NAIA. LeTourneau averaged 87.3 points per game and scored 100-plus points seven times that season. At the NCCAA Tournament, LeTourneau had two blowout wins before holding off Emmanuel (Ga.) in the title game for the program's first national championship.
The next year, Otwell's group once again climbed the ladder and cut down the nets with a second straight NCCAA title. The team finished 24-10 and won all three games at the NCCAA Tournament by double-digits, including a 20-point win over Indiana Wesleyan in the championship.
Otwell was a two-time NCCAAÂ National Coach of the Year (1996-97, 1997-98) and coached two NCCAA National Players of the Year (Tracey Pepper, 1996-97; Kim Chatman, 1997-98). She had nine All-Americans in her seven seasons.
She ended her tenure with a program-record 128 wins with two national championships, five total national tournament appearances, and five conference championships (three tournament and two regular season).
Everywhere Otwell went as a head coach, she experienced tremendous success. She is also in the Halls of Fame at Panola Junior College (Coach), NJCAA (Coach), and her Alma mater Ouachita Baptist (two-sport athlete in basketball and tennis).
