Wingate University Athletics

Barbara Nelson enters her third season as head women’s basketball coach at Wingate University in 2009-10. In her two seasons, Nelson’s teams have compiled an overall record of 44-18 (21-9 in the South Atlantic Conference).

Bulldog fans will long remember Nelson’s first season as head coach for the Wingate women’s basketball team. The Bulldogs advanced to the 2007-08 NCAA Division II Elite Eight as champions of the South Atlantic Region. Wingate (26-8 overall) completed the 2007-08 season as the 10th-ranked team in the country, according to the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA NCAA Division II top 25 Coaches’ Poll. Wingate also won the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament on the way to the Elite Eight. 

Prior to joining the Wingate family, Nelson was the head varsity girls’ basketball coach at Providence Day School in Charlotte. She compiled a 437-176 record with seven NCISAA state championships in 21 seasons with the Chargers. PDS was named the Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 champions five times. In addition, Providence Day won the CISAA basketball conference crown nine times under Nelson’s watch. 

In 2006-07, Nelson led the Chargers to a 30-4 overall record, a state title and a conference championship. The Charlotte Observer named Nelson its girls’ basketball Coach of the Year for her efforts, the fourth time she received this prestigious honor. Nelson compiled a winning record in 19 of her 21 seasons with the Chargers. The 30 wins were a career-best for Nelson. 

Barbara Nelson has deep ties to the South Atlantic Conference. She is a graduate of Presbyterian College with a B.S. degree in Psychology. A four-year letter winner in basketball for the Blue Hose, Nelson served two years on the Scotsman Club board for her alma mater. In September 2009, Nelson received the Bob Waters Award at Presbyterian’s homecoming festivities. The Bob Waters Award is presented to PC graduates who have exhibited outstanding leadership and service as coaches and who personify the qualities possessed by this distinguished Presbyterian alumnus. 

The accolades her Providence Day players have received could fill several scrapbooks. Konecka Drakeford was a two-time Parade All-American (1991 and 1993). Drakeford was the NCAA Division II Player of the Year her senior season at Johnson C. Smith University. 

Both Drakeford and Natasha Brackett were named the Gatorade N.C. Player of the Year and N.C. Miss Basketball in 1993 and 2001, respectively. Brackett (Auburn) is one of four former Chargers to sign NCAA Division I scholarships. Drakeford (Israel and Turkey) and Brackett (Israel) have played professionally as well. Nelson coached three players who signed SAC scholarships. 

Nelson is very active on the national scene. A 14-year participant in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), Nelson was a high school All-American selection committee member in 2006-07. She has been a Nike Basketball Camp Director from 1999 to the present. 

She coached AAU basketball (boys and girls) from 1986 until 2007. Nelson was an assistant coach for an AAU 18 and under state and national championship team in 1986. She has coached the Charlotte Royals (boys), Charlotte Monarchs, Carolina Comets and N.C. Flight. Nelson spent two years as a floor coach for the WNBA Charlotte Sting during open and free-agent tryouts.
A much-in-demand clinician, speaker and student of the game, Nelson has worked and attended camps and clinics at Charlotte, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, Lipscomb, Gardner-Webb and Wingate. The NCAA Division II community is recognizing her knowledge, as the WBCA appointed her to the USA TODAY ESPN Board of Coaches to vote on the weekly top 25 coaches’ poll. Nelson and her husband Vernon have two children: Quinn (20) and Haley (17).