Florida Atlantic hires Nova Southeastern's Freeland as coach

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Florida Atlantic hired LeAnn Freeland as its new women's basketball coach on Tuesday.

Freeland comes to the Owls after 13 seasons as the coach at Division II's Nova Southeastern, which is only about 30 miles south of FAU's campus. Freeland went 274-124 in her 13 seasons at Nova Southeastern, including 27-7 this past season.

"Having lived and coached in this area for quite some time, I've seen first-hand the awesome things happening at Florida Atlantic," Freeland said. "I know there is tremendous potential for the women's basketball program to be successful, and we will hit the court and recruiting trails as soon as possible to build a championship program."

At FAU, Freeland — who went to the Division II Elite Eight four times at Nova Southeastern — is replacing Jennifer Sullivan. The Owls announced that Sullivan stepped down last week after four seasons to take a job as an assistant coach at Missouri.

The Owls were 11-21 this season, have not finished a season over the .500 mark since 2013-14 and have not had a 20-win season since 2005-06.

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