Nancy Winstel

Who is Nancy Winstel?

Nancy H. Winstel was the head women’s basketball coach at Northern Kentucky University from 1983 through 2012.

At the time of her retirement, Winstel ranked 3rd in wins and 9th in winning percentage among active NCAA Division II women’s basketball coaches and 5th in wins and 21st in winning percentage among all time coaches with an overall record of 675-255. At NKU, Winstel compiled a record of 636-214. In 2000, NKU won the NCAA Women's Division II Basketball Championship, the first national championship in the history of the school and the first national championship by a Kentucky college women’s team in any sport at any level. NKU won their second NCAA Women's Division II Basketball Championship in 2008, becoming one of only five schools to win more than one. The 2006-2007 team and Winstel are the subject of Thirteen Women Strong: The Making of a Team, written by NKU English professor Robert K. Wallace.

Born in Newport, Kentucky, Winstel is a graduate of St. Thomas High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. She received her BA in physical education and history from Northern Kentucky University in 1977. She was a walk in on NKU's first women's basketball team. She then after received her master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis on coaching from Indiana University in 1978, then soon became head women’s basketball coach at Midway College in Kentucky for three years. In 1981, she returned to NKU as assistant coach for the women’s basketball and volleyball teams and head coach of the women’s softball team for two years before becoming head women’s basketball coach in 1983.