Prairie State College

While hitting a home run is not a term used in the game of basketball, there really is no other way to describe what PSC Director of Athletics Joe Belcaster pulled off when he hired Annie Byrne to pilot the PSC women's basketball program.  A round ball coaching legend around Chicago Heights and the South Suburbs, Byrne, a former state championship head coach at Marian Catholic High School, knows the PSC area well. Byrne also understands the world of junior college athletics, as she was a former student-athlete at Connor State College in Warner, Oklahoma.

Byrne, entering her first season leading the Pioneers, in addition to her outstanding coaching resume, also put together an outstanding playing career on the hardwood.

At Connor State, Byrne helped the Cowgirls win 52 games, two region titles and a pair of trips to the NJCAA National Tournament.

Following her time in Oklahoma, the Joliet Catholic Academy graduate, decided to play her final two seasons of college basketball back home in Chicago as she put together a stellar two-year run at St. Xavier Univeristy.

A member of the St. Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame, Byrne played for legendary head coach Bob Hallberg while with the Cougars.  

A two-year captain for the Cougars, Byrne helped lead SXU to its first ever Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball championship in 2001.  She was also a two-time CCAC all-conference selection.

After spending a season working with Hallberg as a graduate assistant, Byrne took the head coaching post at the Illinois Institute of Technology.  In two season's at the helm of Illinois Tech, Byrne helped elevate the Scarlet Hawks back to respectability after several less than stellar campaigns.  

In 2005, Byrne took the job which would eventually cement her legacy as an Illinois coaching icon as she took over powerhouse Marian Catholic. 

While already an outstanding program when she took it over, Byrne would elevate Marian to even greater heights.

In eight seasons guiding the Spartans, Byrne produced a record of 217-50.  Her teams won region titles every year that the program was under her charge and also claimed an additional six sectional championships, three super sectional titles and three trips to the IHSA state finals.

The crown jewel of her time leading the program came in 2013 when Marian secured its first ever state championship in girls basketball.

Byrne has been well-recognized for her coaching accomplishments as well.  She was named the 2009 Southtown-Star Coach of the Year and the Northwest Indiana Times Coach of the Year in 2010.  She was also selected as the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association District 8 Coach of the year seven times.

By the time Byrne's tenure at Marian was over, she had sent 38 of her players to four-year institutions, with NCAA Division I programs like Penn, Pitt, Notre Dame, Stoney Brook, Western Illinois, Syracuse, Davidson and Loyola all enjoying the byproduct of the Spartans' success.