Women's Basketball
Sparrow, Dane
Dane Sparrow
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- sparrodb@wfu.edu
- Phone:
- 336-758-4893
Dane Sparrow enters his eighth season with the Wake Forest women's basketball program in 2022-23, with the campaign marking his fifth as an assistant coach after being promoted from director of basketball operations in April 2016.
Since joining the coaching staff, the program has continued to take progress on the court. The culmination of this came in 2020-21. In his third season as an assistant coach in Winston-Salem, Sparrow helped lead the Demon Deacons to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 31 years, earning a No. 9 seed in the tournament.
During the 2021-22 season, Sparrow helped lead the Demon Deacons to their third postseason appearance as an assistant coach.
He coached the ACC's leading scorer as guard Jewel Spear finished the year with 18.3 points per game. Spear, a First Team All-ACC selection, is the first sophomore leading scorer in the conference since the 2011-12 season and just the third in the last 20 years. Additionally, her 90 three pointers ranked second in the ACC and is the second most in single-season program history.
He also played an integral role with the Demon Deacon post players.
Down the stretch of the season, senior forward Christina Morra has been playing her best basketball of the season. In the First Round against Virginia, she tallied her second double-double performance in the last three games. Morra posted 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the victory over the Cavaliers. She has tallied double-digit points in each of her last seven games. Over the last five games, she has been even more impressive, averaging 15.2 points and 9.2 rebounds.
In 2020-21, The Deacs reached the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, marking the first time the Demon Deacons have accomplished this feat in back-to-back seasons since 2012 and 2013. In the second round, the Deacs eliminated North Carolina from the ACC Tournament for the second consecutive season with an 82-71 victory.
During the first season of the NCAA using the NET rankings, the program recorded six victories over top-50 NET ranked teams while also having the No. 2 average opponent NET ranking in the nation.
Additionally, a program record four student-athletes were named to Academic All-ACC Team: Jewel Spear earned her first Academic All-ACC honors this season while Ivana Raca, Gina Conti and Christina Morra were honored for the second time in their career.
Three Demon Deacons earned All-ACC honors with Ivana Raca named to the First Team, Gina Conti to the Second Team and Jewel Spear to the All-Freshman Team. It is just the third time in program history the Demon Deacons have had multiple players selected to the top two All-ACC teams and is just the second time three members of the squad were honored in the same season by the league.
He was key in the development of Ivana Raca during her four seasons. Raca ended her illustrious Wake Forest career ninth on the all-time scoring list with 1,482 points. She was one of just four players to finish her career in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding. Raca ended her four seasons with 715 rebounds, 10th in Demon Deacon history.
She went on to be taken in the 2021 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, becoming the second player in the Hoover era to be taken in the annual draft.
Working closely with the wings, Sparrow has been integral in the development of Ivana Raca, who blossomed into an All-ACC performer in 2019-20. Raca, who also earned first team All-ACC Tournament honors, became the 28th member of the Wake Forest 1000-point club during the final game of the regular season. She led the team and finished fifth in the ACC in scoring with 17.2 points per game with five double-double performances.
During the 2017-18 season, Sparrow guided Tyra Whitehead to the first two double-doubles of her career while also adding a career-high 23 points. Whitehead scored in double figures in 11 contests on the year. Additionally, Ona Udoh added two double-figure games, including a career-high 19 points against No. 12 Florida State, as well as a pair of double-digit rebounding efforts. Against Elon, Udoh hauled in a career-best 15 rebounds.
Sparrow came to Wake Forest in 2013 as the team's video coordinator. He served in the position for one season before being promoted to director of basketball operations for two seasons. Prior to his time with the Demon Deacons, Sparrow was the video coordinator for UNCG in 2011-12.
Since joining the coaching staff, the program has continued to take progress on the court. The culmination of this came in 2020-21. In his third season as an assistant coach in Winston-Salem, Sparrow helped lead the Demon Deacons to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 31 years, earning a No. 9 seed in the tournament.
During the 2021-22 season, Sparrow helped lead the Demon Deacons to their third postseason appearance as an assistant coach.
He coached the ACC's leading scorer as guard Jewel Spear finished the year with 18.3 points per game. Spear, a First Team All-ACC selection, is the first sophomore leading scorer in the conference since the 2011-12 season and just the third in the last 20 years. Additionally, her 90 three pointers ranked second in the ACC and is the second most in single-season program history.
He also played an integral role with the Demon Deacon post players.
Down the stretch of the season, senior forward Christina Morra has been playing her best basketball of the season. In the First Round against Virginia, she tallied her second double-double performance in the last three games. Morra posted 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the victory over the Cavaliers. She has tallied double-digit points in each of her last seven games. Over the last five games, she has been even more impressive, averaging 15.2 points and 9.2 rebounds.
In 2020-21, The Deacs reached the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, marking the first time the Demon Deacons have accomplished this feat in back-to-back seasons since 2012 and 2013. In the second round, the Deacs eliminated North Carolina from the ACC Tournament for the second consecutive season with an 82-71 victory.
During the first season of the NCAA using the NET rankings, the program recorded six victories over top-50 NET ranked teams while also having the No. 2 average opponent NET ranking in the nation.
Additionally, a program record four student-athletes were named to Academic All-ACC Team: Jewel Spear earned her first Academic All-ACC honors this season while Ivana Raca, Gina Conti and Christina Morra were honored for the second time in their career.
Three Demon Deacons earned All-ACC honors with Ivana Raca named to the First Team, Gina Conti to the Second Team and Jewel Spear to the All-Freshman Team. It is just the third time in program history the Demon Deacons have had multiple players selected to the top two All-ACC teams and is just the second time three members of the squad were honored in the same season by the league.
He was key in the development of Ivana Raca during her four seasons. Raca ended her illustrious Wake Forest career ninth on the all-time scoring list with 1,482 points. She was one of just four players to finish her career in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding. Raca ended her four seasons with 715 rebounds, 10th in Demon Deacon history.
She went on to be taken in the 2021 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, becoming the second player in the Hoover era to be taken in the annual draft.
Working closely with the wings, Sparrow has been integral in the development of Ivana Raca, who blossomed into an All-ACC performer in 2019-20. Raca, who also earned first team All-ACC Tournament honors, became the 28th member of the Wake Forest 1000-point club during the final game of the regular season. She led the team and finished fifth in the ACC in scoring with 17.2 points per game with five double-double performances.
During the 2017-18 season, Sparrow guided Tyra Whitehead to the first two double-doubles of her career while also adding a career-high 23 points. Whitehead scored in double figures in 11 contests on the year. Additionally, Ona Udoh added two double-figure games, including a career-high 19 points against No. 12 Florida State, as well as a pair of double-digit rebounding efforts. Against Elon, Udoh hauled in a career-best 15 rebounds.
Sparrow came to Wake Forest in 2013 as the team's video coordinator. He served in the position for one season before being promoted to director of basketball operations for two seasons. Prior to his time with the Demon Deacons, Sparrow was the video coordinator for UNCG in 2011-12.
Sparrow played collegiate basketball at Lander University, a Division II program in Greenwood, South Carolina. A four-year starter, Sparrow played in 111 games for the Bearcats and finished with the fourth-most three-pointers made in school history with 197. He was named the team MVP in 2009-10 after averaging 10.9 points per game, as he shot better than 41 percent from beyond the arc.
After his career at Lander, Sparrow transferred to UNCG to finish his degree, graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.
Sparrow currently resides in Winston-Salem.
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