Chanda Rigby, the late Carla Williams inducted into 2024 FCSAA Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

TALLAHASSEE ─ Former Pensacola State College women’s basketball coach Chanda Rigby and former player and assistant coach, the late Carla Williams, have been inducted into the Florida College System Activities Association Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

Rigby, Williams and Miami-Dale College’s Ramona Edwards are being formally recognized at the FCSAA Division I Basketball Championship scheduled through Sunday (March 16) at Northwest Florida State College.

Rigby was PSC’s women’s head basketball coach from 2005 to 2012. She took over the Troy University women’s basketball program in 2012 and, since that time, made the Trojans a perennial Sun Belt Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament contender.

Over her seven-year run at Pensacola State, Rigby compiled a 153-64 record. After winning just nine games in her first season, Rigby and the Pirates improved their win totals over the next five years.

Although her first 20-win season in 2009 wasn’t enough to earn a postseason berth, the Pirates qualified for the FCSAA Tournament in 2010 and finished with 24 victories.

Rigby’s final two seasons with the Pirates were nothing short of magical – back-to-back Panhandle Conference and FCSAA Championships, two Panhandle Conference and FCSAA Coach of the Year Awards, 64 wins and consecutive third-place finishes in the NJCAA Tournament.

In 2011, the Pirates were a perfect 12-0 in the Panhandle en route to a 34-0 start and the program’s first FCSAA Championship in 26 years. Pensacola State fell in the NJCAA semifinals and ended the season with a record of 35-1.

The following season was quite the encore, as the Pirates repeated as Panhandle and FCSAA Champions and advanced to the NJCAA semifinals, ending the season with a record of 29-4 and setting the stage for Troy University to hire Rigby.

Rigby’s tenure at Pensacola State produced four All-FCSAA performers, four NJCAA All-Americans and three WBCA All-Americans.

Now in her 13th season at Troy University, Rigby has amassed 228 victories, including seven seasons of 20 wins or more, three Sun Belt Tournament Championships, two Sun Belt Regular Season titles, three trips to the NCAA Tournament, seven postseason appearances, 20 all-conference selections, five Sun Belt postseason award winners, one Sun Belt Player of the Year and Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors in 2021.

Earlier this season, she won her 450th career game as a college head coach, which includes four seasons at Holmes (Mississippi) Community College.

In 2022, the Alabama High School Athletic Association presented Rigby with its Bubba Scott Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her efforts, both on and off the court, to elevate the quality of women’s basketball in the Troy community and the state of Alabama.

Rigby is a two-time graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University and earned her doctorate in higher education leadership from Nova Southeastern University in 2017.

 

A gifted basketball player, coach, scholar, educator, and mentor, Williams was perhaps the best to wear a Pensacola State College Pirates uniform.

An academic and athletic standout at Graceville High School, Williams led her team to a state championship in 1992, then played two seasons (1992-1994) at Pensacola State College for Hall of Fame coach Vicki Carson, where she continued to excel in both the classroom and on the court.

She was named All-Academic, All-Panhandle Conference and All-FCSAA in each of her seasons. In 1993, she was named to the FCSAA All-Tournament Team and still holds the FCSAA Tournament record for most free throws made and attempted in both a game and tournament.

After graduating from Pensacola State, Williams played at Florida State University, where she started 52 games and scored 770 points from 1994 to 1996. Almost 30 years later, Williams’ name continues to dot the Seminoles’ record book. She holds the single-season record for free throws made and attempted.

Williams again was lauded for success as a student, earning ACC All-Academic honors.

With her playing days over, Williams, who graduated from FSU in 1996 with a degree in management, made her way back to Pensacola State College, where she became an associate professor, spending more than 24 years working in the Collegiate High and Mathematics and Computer Science Departments.

She went on to earn a master’s degree in education, as well as an education specialist degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of West Florida.

Williams also remained heavily invested in the Pirates’ athletics department. After initially serving as an assistant coach on Carson’s staff for eight seasons, she became a tutor for the student-athletes and worked as a table official for home basketball games. In 2006, she was presented with the Academy of Teaching Excellence’s Outstanding New Faculty Award.

Active in her church and Pensacola and Escambia County communities, Williams served as a mentor, tutor and advisor to young athletes.

Williams, who passed away in May 2022, was inducted into Pensacola State’s Athletics Hall of Fame later that year and had her #22 retired by the College in 2023.

Determined to celebrate Williams’ life permanently, Pensacola State College has established the Carla Williams Memorial Endowed Scholarship to help lift, inspire and support PSC student-athletes now and long into the future.