Northwestern Lady Demon head coach Charlotte Corley, entering her third year as boss of the NSU distaff squad, will be seeking her third straight regional tournament berth during the Lady Demons' 1977-78 season.
Corley, one of Louisiana's finest high school coaches for almost a decade, became Northwestern's first full-time women's basketball and volleyball coach in July 1975. Since then, she's helped lead the Lady Demons to a leading position among all state colleges and to regional and national prominence.
Her 1976-77 squad finished with a 17-14 overall record after an 18-17 mark in 1975-76. The records don't tell quite the whole story, though, since the Lady Demons played an outstanding schedule each year. Against teams in the state, the records are much better, and the NSU squad has finished third and second in the LAIAW state tournament during the past two seasons.
In addition, the Lady Demons finished third in the Region IV AIAW meet in 1975-76 against teams from a four-state area, and missed by only one game advancing to the national tournament.
A native of Jena and a 1966 graduate of Northwestern, Corely also coached the Lady Demon volleyball squad to a 22-9 record in 1975 and to an 18-13 mark in 1976, placing among the state's top three both years. She gave up her volleyball duties to concentrate on basketball this season.
Corley coached with and under Jena Coach Jelly Pigott for four years, during which the Lady Giants reached the Sweet Sixteen Tournament three times. She later moved to Hammond and helped guide the girls' team to the Sweet Sixteen Tournament for the first time in school's history.
The following year she was named "Coach of the Year" in the state while leading Hammond to a 32-5 record and the state finals. In 1973-74 she had another state runner-up team, but by this time Hammond had jumped to Class AAAA.
It was mostly through her efforts that the Sweet Sixteen Tournament added a division for AAAA schools, a division that had not existed prior to the 1973-74 season.
Corley was also coordinator of the East All-Stars in the 1974 Louisiana High School Athletic Association basketball game and has served on the LHSAA girls athletic committee. She is the author of an article in the national publication Woman Coach, entitled "Open Letter to a Female Athlete."
