Celebrating his 25th season at the helm of Liberty University Women’s Basketball, Carey Green said there is nowhere he would rather call home at this stage of his coaching career.
Green has developed deep roots on Liberty Mountain and found ways to flourish here, becoming the all-time winningest coach in any sport in Liberty Athletics history in November. His career mark now stands at 565 wins.
Green said the philosophy of Liberty’s founder, the late Jerry Falwell Sr., cemented in his mind that Liberty was where he belonged.
“Dr. Falwell said, ‘You know, we’ll hire you here for what will get you fired somewhere else,’” Green said in his characteristic southern drawl acquired while growing up on Blueberry Hill outside of Knoxville, Tenn. Falwell was talking about Green’s freedom to share Christ freely with his players.
Lady Flames’ 25th-year Head Coach Carey Green, Liberty Athletics’ all-time winningest coach, draws up a play during a timeout. (Photo by Chase Gyles)
“It’s been nothing but a wonderful journey for me to come and be part of Liberty and see the big picture — to invest in these young women for spiritual growth and character development and point them to eternal values and truths of Scripture that they can use in their lives as they move forward,” Green said. “In my heart, I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”
Green cast a long-term vision for Liberty’s program early in his career.
“Our mission is to Train Champions for Christ. Our program is built on biblical truths and encouraging, nurturing, and developing those characteristics in young women. Our players’ lives have changed, and they have these eternal values that are going to last for 50 years or more, as long as they live, and allow them to impact the world as Champions for Christ.”
Katie (Feenstra) Mattera (’05), a fifth-year assistant coach for the Lady Flames who was a standout center at Liberty before playing five seasons in the WNBA, said Green is uncommon in his field as a family man and coach.
“You won’t ever find another Division I women’s basketball coach like Coach Green,” she said. “If you know him, you know he loves fishing and hunting, and he loves the Lord. He sets a great example for his players. He gets their minds right. He makes sure their eyes are on the cross and not on worldly things. He reminds them that God gave them talents and abilities and that they’re playing for Him and not anyone else.”
She considers Green the prototypical player’s coach.
“He cares about his athletes, and his door is always open,” Mattera said. “He meets them where they are, and he builds a relationship with them. He obviously pushes us to succeed on the court, but he cares more that we succeed in life. That’s ultimately why I chose to play for him. I wasn’t just going to be a stat line.”
She said Green is a gentle, firm motivator: “He’s not going to pull you aside and yell at you in front of everyone. Players don’t need a coach that’s going to do that. They need someone who can motivate you, give you praise when you do things well, and keep you accountable.”
Green and his players took the stage at Convocation in the Vines Center on Jan. 31, with the rally helping to fire up the Lady Flames to win 10 of their last 12 games. (Photo by KJ Jugar)
“The fire comes from the inside,” said Green, who turned 68 on March 31. “You’ve seen coaches who are spitfire and vinegar. They’re screaming, they’re yelling, they’re running up and down the sideline. I think there’s got to be a true balance. I want to have some fire inside that’s under control. Not that I won’t get fired up or get angry, but I just think that to be the best coach and to be who I am, I can’t cross that line of too much emotional fire because I’m no good at that point. I just try to be true to myself and let the Lord guide me in all that.”
Green is grateful for the unprecedented recognition and respect that the sport of women’s basketball has gained this year, with Iowa’s Caitlin Clark becoming the all-time leading scorer for both men’s and women’s basketball and the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship Game — pitting Iowa against the eventual champion South Carolina — drawing a larger television audience (18.87 million) than the men’s final for the first time.
“There’s so much energy and excitement and uniqueness in the game right now, and it is capturing the eye of the media,” Green said. “These young women are doing an amazing job. The game of women’s basketball is an exciting game, and it has continued to grow. The public is seeing it, and the media is waking up a sleeping giant in our culture and in the industry. It’s been progressing that way, but at this point in time, it’s at an all-time high, and I think the ceiling has still yet to be touched.”
While maximizing his players’ potential on the court, he has kept his focus on shepherding them as student-athletes.
“If you have a head coach who loves the Lord as much as he does, you feel more comfortable living out your faith because he is modeling that daily,” Mattera said. “He’s really good about pouring into their lives. We have the love of Christ flowing through our program, and we are Christ-centered, so you can’t help but grow in your faith as a member of this team and as a student at Liberty University.”
Carey Green makes a heart symbol with his wife, Denise, after he eclipsed Liberty’s all-time record with his 548th win on Nov. 6 at Liberty Arena. (Photo by Chase Gyles)
In the Lady Flames’ season-opener against Frostburg State at Liberty Arena on Nov. 6, Green eclipsed the winning record of former Softball Head Coach and Athletics Hall of Fame member Paul Wetmore with his 548th win.
After starting 2024 with back-to-back losses in their first two CUSA games, the Lady Flames caught fire and advanced to the conference championship game for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. Liberty lost to regular-season champion Middle Tennessee State.
But the team’s greatest victory this season, according to Green, came out of a setback when sophomore Pien Steenbergen, a projected starting forward, blew out her knee during the second week of practice.
“Through struggle and injury, she accepted Christ and became a Christian this year and grew closer in her relationship with the Lord,” Green said, noting that she asked him to baptize her in the pool at the Liberty Athletic Center in a ceremony witnessed by Vice President and Director of Athletics Ian McCaw and Senior Women’s Administrator Erin Hagen as well as teammates, coaches, and members of the men’s basketball practice team. “We want to win, and our record shows that God has blessed us and we’ve had a lot of success. (But) that’s what our program’s all about; it was an amazing time.”
Steenbergen is from The Netherlands and joined other international players — two from Iceland, one from Canada, and two from Spain — on the roster. Previous teams under Green’s watch have featured players from Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Russia (all-time leading scorer Elena Kisseleva, ’00).
“It’s a simple platform that was beyond me,” Green said of his recruiting outreach to the nations. “I think this is God’s big plan. We’re going to expose them to God’s love, to share truth in love, and that crosses over all boundaries, races, and religions.”
Green has been intentional in traveling with his teams internationally, including four summertime trips to the Holy Land of Israel.
The program’s success on the court has given its players larger platforms to share the Gospel, including in the WNBA, where Megan (Frazee) Leuzinger (’09, San Antonio Silver Stars), who played with her two triplet sisters at Liberty and became the third-leading all-time scorer, set the stage for impressive careers by Mattera (San Antonio, Detroit Shock, Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky) and all-time-leading rebounder Avery (Warley) Talbert (’12, Phoenix Mercury, New York Liberty, Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, Las Vegas Aces through 2020).
“Our program is bigger than entertaining people,” Green said. “We want to win, but we want a program that changes lives, builds character, and focuses on eternal values rather than material status and fame.”
Lady Flames players and coaches gather around Green after his milestone win. (Photo by Chase Gyles)
COACH STATS
- LU record: 565-233 (.708 winning percentage)
- 5-time Big South Coach of the Year, 6-time VaSID State Coach of the Year
- FCA Kay Yow Heart of a Coach Award (2019), presented to a basketball coach who exemplifies biblical principles in his or her career
- 14 Big South Tournament Championships in 18 seasons in the conference, earning autobids to the NCAA championships each time. Advanced to Sweet 16 for the first time in 2004-05
- Advanced Liberty to seven of the past eight conference championship games, including four in the ASUN and one in its first season in CUSA
- Assistant women’s basketball coach at Clemson University (1988-99), when he helped lead his teams to two ACC Tournament titles, four Sweet 16 appearances, and one trip to the Elite Eight
- Married to Denise, who taught at Liberty for 19 years. They have two children and five grandchildren.
