The last time Gadiva Hubbard was inside the Barn, she was winding up her six-year Gopher career (2016-22), where she played in 242 games and scored 1,477 points. Only Rachel Banham and Carley Wagner hit more three-pointers than the Virginia Beach, Va. native.
Her first time back in Minnesota on Dec. 3, she was on the opposing sideline as first-year assistant coach/ director of basketball operations at the University of North Florida. Sadly, only the Fast Break Club newsletter, U-M pregame notes, and this reporter made any mention of her homecoming after all these years.
“You was my favorite reporter,” Hubbard said, as we chatted postgame outside the visitors’ locker room. I eagerly looked forward to seeing her once I’d learned North Florida was on this year’s Gopher schedule.
This is her second coaching opportunity. Hubbard spent the last two seasons at Daytona State (Junior) College under Tron Griffin, who is now UNF Associate HC. There, she helped the school to its best start since 2015-16 and its most conference wins (nine).
In her first season with the Falcons, Hubbard helped the team finish fourth in the conference and coached a first-team conference performer and two second-team conference performers.
“I love what I do,” Hubbard exclaimed. “When I first got hired as a coach, I actually called my old coaches and apologized for stressing them out so much, because I now understand the other side, I really do,” she said, smiling.
I really don’t believe that the 5-9 Hubbard was as much a headache to her coaches as she was for opponents during her years as a Gopher guard-forward. A near 11-point career scorer, she was 2016 Sixth Player of the Year, three-time Academic Big Ten, two-time all-Big Ten honorable mention, and 2021 all-Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
Hubbard’s best season as a Gopher was 2017-18 when she averaged 13.6 points per game. She is in the school’s record books for second in career games, third in made threes, third in career three-pointers attempted (736), third in minutes played (4,150), ninth in career steals (193), and 11th in career points.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in business marketing and two master’s degrees (sports management and human resource development) from the U.
“It was a rush of emotions, even just flying into the airport,” Hubbard said of her brief homecoming. “It was a lot of emotion that we went through campus for practice yesterday. All the memories came back.
“It felt good to be back on the court,” she said. “It felt good as a coach.”
Gopher notes
Gopher volleyball player Phoebe Awoleye ranked seventh among active DI players with 1.30 bps and third with 644 total blocks. She finished fourth in Gopher history for a single season in blocks per set and 18th all-time at Minnesota.
Awoleye also set a new NCAA high for blocks in a three-set match (14 vs. Maryland Oct. 12), led the Big Ten this season with 125 blocks (1.64 bps), and was named all-Big Ten Second Team.