Being a first-year Division I head coach is a high-pressure job. Add onto that inheriting a 20-win team with championship aspirations. That’s the situation Billi Godsey walked into last May when she became the head coach of the Iona College women’s basketball team, and she thrived in it.

Godsey led the Maroon & Gold to a school-best 26-6 record and the program’s first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular season championship. The Gaels posted an 18-2 record in conference play and defeated MAAC power Marist for the first time in over a decade.

The Maroon & Gold also posted an 18-game winning streak, which is the longest in school history.

For her success, she was named the Spalding Maggie Dixon Division I Rookie Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The announcement came on April 7 in Nashville, Tenn. (the site of the 2014 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four).

“I think that it is a great award for our team,” Godsey said. “It shows how quickly they were able to adapt to something that was new; change isn’t easy. It’s just a testament to how hard these girls worked and how much they were able to adjust to what they needed to do to be successful.”

She also won the College Sports Madness Mid-Major Coach of the Year and the MAAC Coach of the Year awards.

Godsey, who is the first coach in MAAC history to capture the national Rookie Coach of the Year Award, joins some elite company in previous winners of the award. Last year’s recipient of the award was Tennessee’s Holly Warlick, who has led the Lady Vols to a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament in each of her two seasons at the helm. The 2008 winner of the Rookie Coach of the Year award was Jeff Walz of Louisville. He has guided the Cardinals to two appearances in the national championship game.

Dixon, for whom the award is named, had an exceptional amount of success as a rookie head coach. In her first year as the head coach at Army, she led the team to the 2006 Patriot League Championship and the school’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since joining Division I. She passed away the following month at age 28.

“Coach Godsey’s stellar inaugural season at Iona and her smooth transition at the helm of a Division I program represent what the award and Coach Dixon embody,” said Paul Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Spalding, in an article on ICGaels.com.

At the awards ceremony at which Godsey was honored, many other prestigious awards were given out. The National Coach of the Year Award was given to Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw, who led the Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season and an appearance in the national championship game.

Baylor senior guard Odyssey Sims won the Wade Trophy, which is given to the nation’s top player. Sims averaged 28.5 points per game (second best in the nation) and was instrumental in the Bears posting a 32-5 record after the graduation of Brittney Griner.

The Defensive Player of the Year award was presented to Connecticut senior center Stefanie Dolson, who helped lead the Huskies to their second straight National Championship and a 40-0 record in 2014. She averaged 9.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.

While Sims and Dolson are finished with their college careers, Godsey’s Gaels have many players retuning for next season. Juniors Damika Martinez and Aleesha Powell and sophomores Joy Adams and Aaliyah Robinson all won MAAC honors this year and will be back with the Maroon & Gold next season.

“I think we have a bright future ahead of us,” Godsey said. “We have great members of the team back. So as long as we continue to work hard, we’ll continue to improve.”