Frogs are Dancing Again as TCU Women's Basketball Eyes 11th Tournament Appearance

The Road to 11 and the Selection Sunday Reveal

Go ahead, TCU women’s basketball fans. Pinch yourselves.

See, you’re not dreaming.

With this season’s Big 12 Conference regular-season championship, your beloved Horned Frogs have won two consecutive conference regular-season championships, becoming the first Big 12 team to win back-to-back conference titles within three years of finishing in last place.

Other recent notable achievements by the women’s basketball program include a Big 12 Conference Tournament championship in 2025, hosting during last season’s NCAA Tournament, five straight wins over rival Baylor over the last two seasons, 42 consecutive home-court wins, and hosting ESPN College GameDay, which this past March 1 visited Fort Worth for college basketball for the first time.

Unfortunately, No. 1 seed and defending tournament champion TCU was humiliated by No. 2 seed West Virginia, 62-53, in the 2026 Big 12 Conference Championship Game on Sunday, March 8, in Kansas City, Missouri. Despite the surprising loss, Horned Frogs fans over the past two seasons have witnessed the Lady Frogs playing winning basketball.

The next several weeks may bring forth more excitement and milestones.

Modern Excellence and the Mark Campbell Era

TCU became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 2 seed in Big 12 Tournament Championship Game history, but the Horned Frogs still are projected to be a top 16 seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament and host tournament games for the second year in a row. TCU would be joined in Fort Worth by three other NCAA Tournament teams. The teams, the matchups, dates, and times for the three tournament games that would be played in Schollmaier Arena on the TCU campus and broadcast details for the games will be announced during an NCAA Tournament Selection Show airing on ESPN at 7 pm (Central) on Sunday, March 15.

Mar 6, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Mark Campbell watches the runs of play during the second half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

TCU is 29-5 and ranked 14th in the latest Associated Press Top 25, but its loss to West Virginia, which is 27-6 and ranked 12th, may have eliminated the Frogs from being one of the teams placed in the NCAA Fort Worth Regional. The regional will feature Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games being played in Fort Worth’s Dickie’s Arena, which the Horned Frogs are intimately familiar with since the multipurpose arena basically is in TCU’s backyard.

“Credit West Virginia. They outplayed us. They were the better team, and I take the blame,” said a disappointed TCU head coach, Mark Campbell. “This group (TCU team) has always bounced back. I know we will use this (loss) as a great learning experience. We’ll recharge and refresh, then the real thing (the NCAA Tournament) begins. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure we don’t feel this pain for a while. Hopefully, we can have a magical run (in the tournament).”

West Virginia celebrates winning the 2026 Big 12 Tournament — Mar 8, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Jordan Harrison (10) accepts the player of the game trophy after the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Last season’s magical run for the Horned Frogs in the Women’s NCAA Tournament ended with a 58-47 loss to the University of Texas in an Elite 8 game played in Birmingham, Alabama. Notable players from that season were Hailey Val Lith, Sedona Prince, Madison Conner, Agnes Emma-Nnopu, Donovyn Hunter, Taylor Bigby, and Aaliyah Roberson.

Appearing in postseason tournaments is nothing new for TCU women’s basketball. Prior to the last season’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which came during head coach Mark Campbell’s second year at TCU, and after the Frogs had won their first Big 12 Conference regular-season and tournament championships, the Horned Frogs had appeared in nine Women’s NCAA Tournaments, seven Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournaments (WNIT), and one Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) over the course of their history.

The WBIT appearance came during the 2023-24 season, which was Campbell’s first year at TCU. Midway through that season, the Frogs were decimated by injuries, which forced them to forfeit two games and eventually hold on-campus open tryouts. Despite adversity, TCU entered the WBIT with a 20-11 record, during which the Frogs went 1-1.

During that challenging season, notable players were Sydney Harris, Madsion Conner, Sedona Prince, Aaliyah Roberson, and Agnes Emma-Nnopu, as well as Ella Hamlin, Piper Davis, and Sarah Sylvester, who joined the team through the open tryouts.

Building a Winner under Jeff Mittie and Raegan Pebley

TCU’s nine prior NCAA Tournament appearances came in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010.

The seven WNIT appearances were in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019.

The seven consecutive and nine overall NCAA tournament appearances, as well as the 2008, 2011, and 2014 WNIT appearances, came under Jeff Mittie, TCU’s most successful head women’s basketball coach. He directed the Horned Frogs from 1999 through the 2013-2014 season, which was TCU’s second season in the Big 12 Conference.

The fiery, respected, and hugely popular Mittie energized and turned TCU’s women’s basketball program into a winning team recognized across the country. With an overall record of 303-176, including a conference record of 152-80 across the Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference, and the Big 12 Conference, Mittie is TCU’s all-time winningest women’s head basketball coach.

Mittie’s Frogs won three conference championships, one each in the Western Athletic, Conference USA, and the Mountain West.

Under Mittie’s leadership, the Frogs won 25 or more games in a season four times, including going 27-7 in the 2003-04 season. Mittie’s teams won 20 or more games in 11 seasons. His Horned Frogs experienced only one losing season over his 15-year tenure, when they went 10-21 in 2012-13.

Under Mittie, TCU went undefeated (16-0) at home for the first time in program history during the 2009-10 season.

Notable players during Mittie’s years included Amy Sutton, Jill Sutton, Ebony Shaw, Sandora Irwin, Niki Newton, Adrianne Ross, JimAnne Baker (later Heny), Moneka Knight, Emily Carter, Helena Sverrisdottir, Starr Crawford, Antoinette Thompson, Chelsea Prince, Zahna Medley, and Jada Butts.

Mittie left TCU to be closer to his home state of Missouri. He became the head women's basketball coach at Kansas State. Today, he is still a successful coach of the Wildcats.

TCU’s WNIT appearances in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019 came under the direction of Raegan Pebley, who replaced Mittie beginning with the 2014-15 season. Pebley coached the Horned Frogs until she resigned after the 2022-23 season, after which Campbell took over the program.

As TCU’s second-winningest women’s head basketball coach, Pebley compiled an overall record of 141-138, including a 60-102 record in the Big 12.

Under Pebley, TCU collected its first national ranking in 10 years during the 2017-18 campaign, ranking as high as 22nd.

TCU compiled a 24-11 record in 2018-19, just one win shy of the then-school's single-season record of 25 victories (2000-01, 2003-04). TCU set a then-program record of 17 home victories in 2018-19.

The 2019-20 campaign saw the Frogs register a 22-7 overall record and a 13-5 mark in Big 12 play. It marked Pebley's third-consecutive 20-win season, while the 13 Big 12 wins ranked at the time as the most Big 12 wins in school history. TCU finished in second place in the Big 12, the Frogs' highest finish in the league since joining in 2012. Pebley and the Frogs appeared headed to an appearance in the 2020 NCAA Women’s Tournament, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2020 postseason to be cancelled.

Notable players during Pebley’s tenure included Medley, Prince, Butts, Lauren Heard, Kianna Ray, Jordan Moore, Jayde Woods, and Amy Okonkwo.

On January 5, 2024, Pebley was named General Manager of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

Founding Mothers and the Early Days of the Southwest Conference

TCU women's basketball, southwest conference era — Janice Dziuk played at TCU from 1986-90 and will be inducted into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame in August. | TCU Athletics

TCU’s women’s basketball’s first season was 1977-78.

The passage of Title IX in 1972 spurred the integration and expansion of women's sports in the 1970s, promoting gender equity in athletics. Tennis and rifle became TCU’s first varsity programs for women in 1972, followed by basketball achieving varsity status in 1977, five years before becoming a Division 1 program in 1982.

TCU’s first women’s basketball team, 1977-78, featured seven players, who went 5-18 under inaugural head coach Judy Daley, who also coached the 1978-79 Horned Frogs.

The seven players included: junior Sharon Reeves, sophomore Vemell Armstrong, and freshmen Ronna Holmquist, Norma Ramirez, Elaine Taylor, Pamela Justice, and Sue Wyatt.

Vemell, of Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, was the women’s basketball program’s first Black student-athlete. She became the program’s first player to score 1,000 points in her career. During her two years at TCU, Daley compiled an overall record of 24-26 in the Texas Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

Kenneth Davis succeeded Daley in 1979. He led the Horned Frogs for four seasons, three of them with TCU as a member of the TAIAW, and his fourth, 1982-83, with the Frogs in their inaugural Southwest Conference (SWC) season.

With notable players such as Armstrong, Teri Bullock, and Mary Shaffer, Davis compiled an overall record of 56-71, including an SWC record of 0-8.

Fran Garmon took over the program beginning with the 1983-84 season. She spent a decade at TCU, where she compiled an overall record of 78-192, including an SWC record of 27-129, with no conference championships or NCAA Tournament appearances.

Two of Garmon’s most notable players were Terri Janak (1984-88) and Janice Dziuk (1987 90). Garmon’s TCU tenure occurred amid the post-Title IX expansion of women's athletics, a period marked by growing opportunities but persistent resource disparities. At TCU, Garmon had to deal with these challenges on a shoestring budget and with only a volunteer assistant and occasional graduate assistants, including former player Dziuk, who eventually transitioned into coaching, highlighting Garmon's influence on long-term careers in the sport.

Garmon focused on program-building and player development, adapting to the era's inequities by prioritizing education, resilience, and incremental progress. Under Garmon's guidance, TCU’s women’s basketball program tied for seventh in the Southwest Conference in 1987–88 and finished fifth in 1989–90.

Garmon was renowned for her overall 31-year collegiate career and significant contributions to the growth of women’s basketball, including serving as head coach for U.S. teams at the 1979 World University Games and the 1983 Pan American Games. She coached the USA to gold medals in both events. Garmon was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Shell Robinson was promoted from an assistant on Garmon’s staff to TCU’s head women’s basketball coach in 1993.

Robinson broke down barriers at TCU. She became one of the first assistants to the women’s basketball program hired, as well as the first woman of color to be hired for the staff.

Robinson was the program’s first Black woman head coach, a position she held until 1996, which was the year the Southwest Conference broke up. Robinson compiled an overall record of 8-72, including an SWC record of 1-41. Notable players on her teams included Stephani Gray, Janelle Hunter and Amy Bumsted.

Mike Petersen followed Robinson. He served as TCU’s women’s basketball head coach from 1996 to 1999, laying the foundation for when Mittie would take over the program.

Petersen coached men’s and women’s teams prior to joining TCU. Petersen had an overall record of 42-41 as the Horned Frogs’ head coach, including a Western Athletic Conference record of 18-26.

Key players on Petersen’s teams included Emma Wilson, Jennifer Hickman, Leah Garcia, Buffy Ferguson, Jill Sutton, and Amy Sutton.

Petersen left TCU to become an assistant coach on the University of Minnesota’s men’s basketball team.

If not for Daley and her players' courageously kicking things off during the Dark Ages of women’s collegiate sports, and the commitment of the coaches and players who have followed over the past five decades, TCU women’s basketball and its fans probably wouldn’t be enjoying the success that they are today.

In a matter of days, the Frogs will be appearing in a second consecutive NCAA Women’s Tournament, for the first time since TCU made back-to-back appearances in 2009 and 2010.

How far this year’s team can progress in the NCAA Tournament is to be determined. If TCU couldn’t beat West Virginia in a Big 12 Conference Tournament setting, are the Frogs a legitimate NCAA Tournament threat?

In any regard, this will be the Horned Frogs’ 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in their history, which becomes more illustrious with each passing year.

TCU team shows excitement over thrilling moment — TCU women's basketball players celebrate during a game. | Brian McLean - On Assignment Photo/KillerFrogs.com for TCU On SI

Assessing the Horned Frogs as a Legitimate Tournament Threat

When the selection committee reveals the bracket this Sunday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN, the Horned Frogs will officially celebrate their 11th trip to the Big Dance. While the recent loss to West Virginia raised questions about their ceiling, the body of work from this 29-5 squad remains undeniable.

This moment honors everyone from the pioneers of the 1970's to the modern stars of today who have transformed TCU into a national brand.

As the Frogs prepare to host at Schollmaier Arena, they aren't just participating in the tournament anymore. They are expected to be contenders.