Joanne P. McCallie has an impressive resume.
The Brunswick High School All-American player and former University of Maine women’s basketball coach is in her 11th season as the head coach at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
On Tuesday night, she will welcome a former player, Amy Vachon, to Cameron Indoor Stadium when the Blue Devils entertain Vachon’s Black Bears.
In 26 years as a head coach, McCallie’s teams at UMaine, Michigan State and Duke have compiled a record of 597-219 with 20 NCAA tournament appearances.
She was 167-73 in eight years at UMaine, 149-75 in seven seasons at MSU and is 281-73 at Duke. She guided the Black Bears to six straight NCAA tournament appearances.
The 52-year-old McCallie said it is going to be a privilege to coach against Vachon and said she has done a great job as the interim head coach while Richard Barron remains on medical leave while serving as a special assistant to athletics director Karlton Creech.
McCallie said she isn’t surprised that Vachon, who like her is a member of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame, got into coaching.
“I just wasn’t sure what level she would want to coach at,” said McCallie on Monday. “Her dad (Paul) was a great coach so she had the blood lines.”
Former Cony High of Augusta coach Paul Vachon also is a Maine Sports Hall of Famer.
“She knows the game. Amy orchestrated the (UMaine) win over Stanford (in the NCAA tournament). That was the biggest win in the program’s history,” said McCallie.
Tenth-seeded UMaine upset No. 7 Stanford 60-58 in the first round of the 1999 East Regional at Norfolk, Va.
Vachon has been dealing with a lot of new faces on this year’s team after five players transferred during the offseason and three-time first-team All-America East guard Sigi Koizar graduated.
The Black Bears take a 6-5 record into the game against 14th-ranked Duke (8-2).
“That team doesn’t look like it has been pieced together at all. She has done an incredible job,” said McCallie. “They played right with Ohio State the whole game. I was extremely impressed.”
UMaine lost 83-70 at Ohio State on Dec. 3, right after Duke had beaten the Buckeyes 69-60 on Nov. 30 at Durham.
Vachon said McCallie had a big influence on her and she is looking forward to seeing her.
“I definitely learned a lot from her,” said Vachon. “When she was here, she was a young coach. We did a lot of great things. We played teams like Stanford and UConn. We were always the underdogs but we were able to play with those teams.
“You wanted to play for her. And she was an amazing recruiter,” said Vachon. “We’ve shared a lot of good memories. It will definitely be a neat experience.”
Duke is the fourth 2017 NCAA tournament team UMaine will have played this season. The Bears have lost to Ohio State, Miami (80-70) and NCAA runner-up Mississippi State 83-43 on Sunday.
“Maine has always done that. We used to play teams like Georgia and Alabama,” recalled McCallie who said playing such a challenging non-conference schedule paves the way for success within America East.
McCallie said she feels fortunate to have the career she has had and that she returns with some frequency to Maine where she still has a lot of family, primarily in Falmouth.
McCallie is the first Division I coach to be named conference coach of the year in four different conferences and to win titles in four different leagues: North Atlantic Conference, America East, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast.
Other accomplishments for the member of the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame and UMaine Sports Hall of Fame include reaching 100 wins in 122 games at Duke, the second fastest in NCAA history at a school, and being the second Division I coach to lead two programs to 30-win seasons.
McCallie has survived a 2016 investigation into her program at Duke after several high-profile players transferred.
She believes she is in the best shape of her career, physically, and doesn’t anticipate retiring any time soon.
McCallie, whose team is without two starters due to injury, second-leading scorer Rebecca Greenwell and freshman guard Mikayla Boykin, expects a tough game from the Black Bears.
“It is going to be a battle. They’re a smart team. It’s going to be great fun,” said McCallie who with husband John has raised two children: Daughter Maddie, who played basketball at Elon and Miami (Ohio) and son Jack, a high school point guard.
She coached against her daughter’s Elon team last season and Duke won 68-61.
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