AnnMarie Gilbert, a 30-year collegiate coaching veteran, joins the UCF women’s basketball program as assistant coach, announced by head coach Sytia Messer Wednesday.
Gilbert comes to Orlando after spending three seasons as associate head coach at Winthrop. She helped the Eagles improve from eight wins in 2022-23 to 16 wins during the 2024-25 season.
Prior to Rock Hill, Gilbert served stints at Detroit and Virginia Union. She spent the 2020-21 season as head coach at Detroit where she produced the fourth leading scorer in the Horizon League and her team ranked third in the conference in both steals (8.71) and free throw percentage (71.9%) while also maintaining an overall 3.2 team GPA.
Before heading to Detroit, Gilbert served as head coach at Virginia Union from 2015-2020 where she compiled an overall record of 135-18 and was a relentless and tireless recruiter. During her tenure at VUU, Gilbert produced four different Players of the Year including one Division II National Player of the Year and two Defensive Players of the Year. Her teams won three Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) titles, five CIAA Northern Division titles, two Atlantic Region titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances, one Elite Eight and one National Championship appearance. Gilbert was three times the CIAA Coach of the Year, two times the National Sports Media Association Coach of the Year, and HBCU Coach of the Year.
Ahead of her stint at Virginia Union, Gilbert led Eastern Michigan to an overall record of 94-64 while winning 2 MAC West titles, earning two WNIT bids, along with one MAC Tournament championship and one NCAA Tournament appearance.
Before her appointment at Eastern Michigan, Gilbert served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Michigan State and helped the program to a record of 120-44 in five years, along with a Big Ten title, one Big Ten Tournament title, NCAA Regional title, and a National Championship runner-up finish.
She graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's degree in sociology before completing a master's degree in education at Cleveland State University.
Gilbert, a three-year starter for Elyria High School was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. During her senior year, she was named Ohio’s Miss Basketball.