Ohio University

Updated: March 26, 2025

After being named head coach on March 28, 2013, Bob Boldon has become the winningest coach in program history, reaching the 100-win mark faster than any women's basketball coach at Ohio. The 2015 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, Boldon has coached two MAC Freshman of the Year winners, three MAC Defensive Player of the Year winners, one MAC Sixth Player of the Year winner and 17 players on the All-MAC first, second or third team. Boldon broke the program's win record during the 2018-19 season with a win at Miami. Boldon and his teams have taken down seven "Power Five" teams during his time in Athens.

Prior to being named the Bobcats' head coach, Boldon served as the head coach at Youngstown State. There, he inherited a team coming off an 0-30 record. In his third and final season at YSU, Boldon led the Penguins to a 23-win season and first round victory in the WNIT. 

Boldon's players have rewritten the Ohio and MAC record book. Kiyanna Black (2012-16) holds the MAC and Ohio record for threes made in a season (126) and is second in the MAC and first in Ohio for threes made in a career at 329. Six of Ohio's top ten three-point field goal makers played under Boldon. Cece Hooks set the career steals record and also sits atop the single-season steals list with 110 in 2018-19. 

Boldon's teams are some of the highest-scoring teams in program and MAC history. The 2014-15 Bobcats made a program-high 296 three-pointers, the second-most in MAC history. The highest-scoring team in program history (2,746) came under Boldon in 2018-19, while three of the top-five highest-scoring seasons in program history happened under Boldon. 

In 2024-25, Boldon coached Watkins as she concluded her senior season with All-MAC Third Team honors and as one of the MAC's top offensive performers. The Bobcats experienced several milestones with Boldon earning his 200th win at Ohio and Watkins reaching the 1,000 career points. 

2023-24 saw Boldon coach three Bobcats as they earned All-MAC honors. Jaya McClure and Kennedi Watkins were named All-MAC honorable mention and Bailey Tabeling was selected for the MAC All-Freshman team. At the end of the season, Tabeling ranked 24^th in the nation for three-point percentage. Boldon coached the Bobcats as they made its return to the MAC tournament as the No. 7 seed. Ohio concluded the season with a 11-19 overall record.

In 2022-23, Boldon coached the MAC leading scorer Yaya Felder to a All-MAC Second Team season. Felder was one short of the all-time single game scoring record after posting 40 points against Central Michigan. Jaya McClure earned MAC All-Freshman Team honors, and Ohio added three to the Academic All-MAC team. 

2021-22 saw Ohio make the WNIT and Cece Hooks win another MAC Defensive Player of the Year award. Hooks was on All-MAC First Team, and was joined by Erica Johnson (Third Team) and Gabby Burris (Honorable Mention). Hooks signed with the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA after the conclusion of the season. 

In 2020-21, Boldon coached Cece Hooks to an Honorable Mention All-America honor, Ohio's first since 1986 when Caroline Mast was named the same. Hooks added the All-America honors to an already impressive list of awards. Hooks was named Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, MAC Defensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-MAC and MAC All-Defensive Team. Hooks finished the year ranked third in the nation in points per game and was just the second player in school history to record a triple-double after scoring 31 points, 11 assists and 10 steals against Miami. Ohio made the WNIT in 2020-21 and won one game in the tournament when they took down Fordham, 81-64. The Bobcats finished the season 15-10.

The 2019-20 season saw Boldon’s Bobcats put three on the All-MAC team in Cece Hooks, Erica Johnson and Amani Burke. Hooks and Johnson were First-Team All-MAC, while Hooks won MAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season after becoming the all-time steals leader in OU history as a junior. Ohio finished the season with a win in the MAC Tournament Semifinals before the tournament and season were canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis. In non-conference play, Ohio took down Ohio State, 74-68, for the first time in program history on the road in Columbus. Ohio’s team became the first in program history to have four 1,000-point scorers on one team (Erica Johnson, Cece Hooks, Amani Burke, Gabby Burris) when Erica Johnson scored her 1,000^th point in the MAC semifinals win over Western Michigan. 

Boldon led the Bobcats to a historic season in 2018-19, becoming the first head coach to win 30 games in one season at Ohio University in either the women's or men's program. The 30 win total has only been reached four times by a MAC team. Boldon guided his team to the Round of Eight in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the farthest Ohio has ever reached in a postseason tournament. Ohio rewrote the record book in 2018-19, scoring more points (2,746), making more field goals (980) and making more threes (341) than any other team in program history. Ohio's Erica Johnson won Mid-American Conference Sixth Player and Freshman of the Year, while Cece Hooks - who broke the single-season steals record (112) - won MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Hooks ended up making first-team All-MAC, while Johnson and Amani Burke were placed on the third team.

In 2017-18, Cece Hooks won MAC Freshman of the Year as Ohio advanced to the MAC Quarterfinals. The Bobcats placed four on the Academic All-MAC team and picked up a road win against Purdue on the road in West Lafayette.

Ohio followed their 26-win season in 2015-16 with a 22-10 season and a trip to the WNIT in 2016-17. Ohio had a Big Ten win over Illinois, 80-68 in non-conference play. Boldon placed one player – Quiera Lampkins – on the All-MAC Second Team while Jasmine Weatherspoon made the All-MAC Defensive Team. Four players landed on the Academic All-MAC team.

Boldon and the Bobcats had their third 26-win season in program history in 2015-16 and their second MAC regular-season title. The team saw its fourth postseason appearance in program history, where the Bobcats took down Marshall and Virginia Tech to advance to the third round of the WNIT. In the 2015-16 season, junior guard Quiera Lampkins was named the 2016 Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-MAC Second Team and the All-Defensive Team. Senior guard Kiyanna Black was named to the All-MAC First Team for the second-consecutive season. Senior forward Lexie Baldwin was named All-MAC Honorable Mention and junior forward Jasmine Weatherspoon was also named to the All-Defensive Team.

Boldon and the Bobcats set a then-program record for most wins (27) in a season in 2014-15. Boldon led the `Cats to a MAC Regular Season and Tournament Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, Ohio's first since 1995. Boldon was named MAC Coach of the Year after winning both the regular season and MAC Tournament title, when they defeated Eastern Michigan, 60-44. Ohio’s 2014-15 team had the second-highest winning percentage in program history and was the fourth-highest scoring team in program history (2,233). Kiyanna Black earned First-team All-MAC honors after averaging 16 points per game and four rebounds per game. Quiera Lampkins also found herself on the All-MAC squad earning third-team honors averaging 12.5 points per game along with 6.7 rebounds per contest. Mariah Byard was also earned All-MAC honorable mention posting 9.7 points per game. Byard and Sophomore guard Yamonie Jenkins garnered Academic All-MAC honors as well.

The 2013-14 season brought the implementation of Boldon's motion offense, and Boldon grabbed his first win of his Ohio Career with a 94-88 win in over Xavier inside the Convocation Center.

Ohio University Director of Athletics Jim Schaus named Boldon as the 10th head coach in program history on March 28, 2013.

Boldon came to Athens after spending the previous three years of his head coaching career at Youngstown State. The Northeast Ohio native inherited a program that had posted an 0-30 record during the 2009-10 season and turned it into a Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) participant at the end of the 2012-13 season, posting two double-digit win seasons and one 23-win campaign along the way. Youngstown State's 2012-13 season was arguably the program's best in 15 years and included a first-round victory in the WNIT. Boldon led the Penguins to a 23-10 mark (11-5 Horizon) en route to earning Horizon League Coach of the Year honors.  

Boldon came to Youngstown with an outstanding resume as a player and an impressive track record as a collegiate coach. Prior to his time in Youngstown, Boldon spent three successful seasons as a collegiate head coach and 10 years as a college assistant. Five of those 10 years were at the Division I level, including two seasons at Akron. Two of the coaches he worked with - Jerry Scheve and Karl Smesko - have been voted national coaches of the year.

In his head coaching stint prior to YSU, Boldon orchestrated the best season in school history at Lambuth University, an NAIA school located in Jackson, Tenn. He led the Eagles in 2008-09 to school bests with 29 wins, a final No. 3 national ranking and a .853 winning percentage. Lambuth was the runner-up for the national title, and Boldon was recognized as the Association of Independent Institutions Coach of the Year after the regular season and A.I.I. Tournament.

At the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Boldon showed he can rebuild a program as he helped lead a major improvement for the Division II Cotton Blossoms in the Gulf South Conference. He inherited a team that went 1-15 in GSC play the year prior to his arrival, and he immediately brought them up to an 8-8 mark, which was the school's best conference record in five years. In his two seasons at UAM, the Cotton Blossoms finished third in the GSC each year, made consecutive conference tournament appearances and earned the school's first conference tournament victory since 1998.

Boldon spent four seasons with Smesko, the current head women's basketball coach at Florida Gulf Coast University, and five at Akron. Boldon and Smesko teamed up for a combined record of 85-34 over four seasons, which includes one year at FGCU, two years at IPFW and another at Walsh.

In 2009-10, FGCU went 24-7 and earned an invitation to compete in the WNIT. The Eagles were 17-3 in the Atlantic Sun and went a perfect 14-0 in home contests. Boldon and Smesko were part of a massive rebuilding project at IPFW as the Mastodons competed at the Division II level. IPFW was 2-24 the season before Boldon arrived on campus, and the Mastadons went 13-14 and 19-8 in the two years he was on the bench. Boldon and Smesko first worked together in 1997-98 at Boldon's alma mater, Walsh. The Cavaliers won the NAIA Division II National Championship that season behind a 29-5 record, and Smesko was recognized as the national coach of the year with Boldon's assistance. That Walsh team was part of the 2012 Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame induction class.

At Akron, Boldon was the top assistant coach for the Zips for two seasons from 2006-08. There, he helped lay the foundation for Akron to be competitive again in the MAC. The Zips had won eight games combined in the two years before Boldon and head coach Jodi Kest arrived on campus, and they won 10 games in the first season with Boldon on board. With some of Boldon's recruits, Akron went 18-14 in 2009-10 and advanced to the MAC Tournament semifinals. Boldon also spent two seasons with Kest at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2002-04, leading the Islanders to a combined 34-21 record as a Division I Independent. Boldon and Kest first worked together at Gannon in 2001-02 when the Lady Knights went 20-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Boldon was an assistant at Wilmington College with Jerry Scheve in 1998-99, helping to lead the Quakers to a 20-4 record and regular season and tournament titles.

Boldon, a native of Louisville, Ohio, graduated from Walsh in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. As a student-athlete, he was a two-time All-America selection as a point guard and helped lead the Cavaliers to the Final Four of the NAIA Tournament. A four-year starter, he remains the school record holder in assists (775) while also ranking fourth in scoring with 1,694 points. Boldon was a 2008 inductee to Walsh's Wall of Fame, and his accomplishments were celebrated as one of the program's top 50 players in its 50-year history in 2012. He earned his master's degree in liberal studies from Indiana in 2003.

Boldon resides in Athens with his wife, Rebecca. Boldon has four sons, Andrew, Tyler, Luke and Zach.