Elaine Elliott

Elaine Elliott is an American former basketball coach for the Utah Utes women's basketball team. She is the winningest basketball coach in school history, with a career record of 582–234 (.713). At the time of her retirement, she had led the Utes to 15 appearances in NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2006. Elliott formally retired as head coach on March 23, 2011.

Early life Elliott was born and raised outside of Tacoma, Washington. Her father Will introduced her to the game of basketball as he was a former collegiate player. However, he chose not to pursue basketball after college and became a music teacher at Boise State University. While she played organized sports in Washington, she was unable to continue after her family moved to Boise, Idaho, in 1968, because her junior high school had no girls' sports. While enrolled at Capital High School, Elliott played competitive volleyball, basketball, and tennis. and won two state singles titles as a junior and senior. As Title IX had not been fully implemented, none of her teams had matching uniforms or a team bus for travel.

Coaching career After completing her undergraduate degree, Elliott returned to Idaho and served as head coach of Boise High School's women's basketball team. As the team's head coach, she helped lead them to the 1978 Idaho A-1 girls' state championship and was named A-1 Coach of the Year. The following year, Boise High ranked second in the state and Elliott had maintained a two-year winning record of 42–6. She left Boise in 1979 to join the Utah Utes women's basketball team as an assistant coach under the tutelage of Fern Gardner. As an assistant coach for four years, Elliott helped lead the Utes to an 85-35 record. She was also promoted to head coach in March 1983 after Gardner retired.

Later career and retirement During a year-long leave of absence to consider retirement, former Assistant Coach Anthony Levrets took over as head coach.

Starting with the 2011–12 season, Elaine Elliott was an assistant coach at Salt Lake City's Westminster College.

Elliott also spent the 2016–17 season as assistant coach at California State University, Fullerton.

Personal life Elliott and her partner Lisa Church participated in a documentary film about four women with metastatic breast cancer, but Church died before the film was released.