Fierce Women In Sports

Bringing with her a proven track record of success and program building, Robyn Fralick was announced as Michigan State’s new women’s basketball head coach on Friday by MSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller on March 31, 2023.

She wasted no time in making history, becoming the first MSU women's basketball coach to make the NCAA Tournament in her first season. Michigan State ended the 2023-24 season with a 22-9 record, which was its most since the 2015-16 season.

Fralick is the sixth coach in Spartan women’s basketball history. In nine seasons as a head coach, Fralick holds an overall record of 214-85 (.716).

In her first season in the Green and White, Fralick's squad exceeded expectations with not just the 22-9 record, but a 12-6 mark in Big Ten action. Four Spartans captured All-Big honors led by sophomore Theryn Hallock earning the second-ever Sixth Player of the Year honors. Guard/forward Julia Ayrault captured first-team all-conference honors, while guards Moira Joiner and DeeDee Hagemann both garnered second-team accolades.

She came to MSU after directing the Bowling Green program the last five seasons, guiding the Falcons to an 88-73 record (including 69-31 over the last three seasons) and three postseason appearances. Last season, Fralick led BGSU to a 31-7 record, matching the school and Mid-American Conference records for most wins in a single season.

A native of Okemos, Michigan, the former Robyn Flewelling had a storied career at Okemos High School. She garnered second-team all-state honors and was named to the All-Michigan Fifth Team as a senior. In addition to her basketball honors, she was named all-league in soccer as well as honorable mention all-league in softball. She was named to the Okemos High School Hall of Fame in 2017.

Dr. Ashleigh Huffman is the VP of Global Engagement at the Institute for Sport and Social Justice and the former Chief of Sports Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Huffman works with governments, sports leagues, universities, and businesses to tackle global issues in sport and advance democratic priorities such as gender equity, diversity and inclusion, disability rights, and racial justice. As the Chief of Sports Diplomacy, she served as a leading advisor on international sport policy and oversaw international exchange opportunities, including world championships, the Olympics and Paralympics, and the World Cup.

Before joining the U.S. Department of State, Ashleigh was a professor at the University of Tennessee and co-founder of the Center for Sport, Peace, and Society. In that role, she worked closely with the State Department and espnW to launch the Global Sports Mentoring Program, an international mentoring program for women and persons with disabilities, which was awarded in 2018 with the ESPN Stuart Scott Humanitarian Award and the Peace and Sport "Diplomatic Action of the Year” Award.

Ashleigh has worked with athletes, coaches, leagues, and national governing bodies of sport in 120 countries, devising plans for sustainable legacy projects, leadership development, and social change. Ashleigh earned her PhD at the University of Tennessee in Sociocultural Studies and was a two-time captain of her basketball team at Eastern Kentucky University.