Lisa Fortier

Early life and education

Fortier, born Lisa Mipsley, played basketball at Placer High School before playing at both Butte Community College and California State University, Monterey Bay. At Cal State, she earned honorable mention All Cal-Pac Conference honors as a junior and was named to the NAIA Academic All-America list in 2003. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cal State, Monterey Bay, in 2004 with a B.A. in human communication. As a junior in 2002–03, Fortier averaged 12.1 points,. 4.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. As a senior in 2003–04, Fortier averaged 9.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.0 https://web.archive.org/web/20040904170908/http://sports.csumb.edu/athletics/W_basketball/statistics/wbbstats_022104.HTM#TEAM.IND</reF> Later that year, she earned her Master's in Sport and Athletic Administration from Gonzaga University.

Coaching career

After two years as director of operations at Gonzaga, Fortier was an assistant coach at Northern Colorado in the 2006–07 season, then an assistant at Gonzaga from 2007 to 2014.

On April 14, 2014, Fortier was hired to become the Gonzaga women's basketball head coach, succeeding Kelly Graves, who accepted the head coaching position for Oregon women's basketball the week before. Prior to becoming head coach, she was director of basketball operations for the Lady Zags from 2004-2006 and assistant coach from 2007-2014, where she worked on the team's defense. She was also the assistant coach for the University of Northern Colorado women's basketball team for the 2006-2007 year.

2014-2015 Season

She picked up her first win as a head coach with a 75-65 over the Dayton Flyers women's basketball team at the Kennel on November 16, 2014. The biggest highlight in non-conference was the Eastern Washington game at Reese Court on December 3, 2014, where Elle Tinkle (daughter of current Oregon State Beavers men's basketball coach Wayne Tinkle) shot the game winning jumper as time expired, where the Zags escaped with a 61-60 win. The Zags finished non-conference play with a 7-4 record.

Fortier picked up her first conference win as a head coach with a 78–62 over Jeff Judkins' BYU Cougars women's basketball team at the Kennel on December 27, 2014. The biggest conference game came against the San Francisco Dons on February 7, 2015 at the Kennel, where the Zags won 91–84 in a 4-overtime thriller. The Zags clinched their 11th consecutive WCC regular-season crown on February 19, 2015 with an 80–72 win over Paul Thomas' Saint Mary's Gaels. It also marked the first regular-season crown under Mispley Fortier's head coaching tenure. Gonzaga finished West Coast Conference regular-season play with a 16–2 record with losses against Pacific at home and San Diego on the road.

In the year-end conference tournament, the Zags defeated the Loyola Marymount Lions 70-50 before losing to the Brigham Young Cougars 61–55. It was the Zags first non-appearance in the WCC Tournament Final game since the 2006 season. However, Gonzaga still received an #11 seed in the Spokane region, the second at-large bid in school history and the third in West Coast Conference play.

Fortier led the Zags to a 82–69 first round win over the George Washington Colonials and a 76-64 second round win over the Oregon State Beavers. Both the first and second round games were held at the Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.

The next game, the Lady Zags led the Tennessee Volunteers 57-40 before Tennessee went on a 23–6 run to end regulation and force the game into overtime. The Zags season came to an end with a 73–69 overtime defeat to the Volunteers, in front of mostly Zags fans at the Spokane Arena.

On April 6, 2015, it was announced that she was named the Maggie Dixon Award Rookie Coach of the Year.

2015-2016 Season

On June 18, 2015, WBCA announced that Fortier will serve as Board of Directors for the West region.
The Zags finished non-conference play with a 8-4 record. The biggest game in non-conference was Wyoming, where the Zags won 61–57 in overtime.
The Zags finished 10–8 in West Coast Conference play, finishing fifth place, ending Gonzaga's 11 consecutive West Coast Conference regular season titles, where the BYU Cougars women's basketball team won the outright title.
The biggest game in conference play was against #22 BYU in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center, where the Zags outscored BYU 33-13 in the fourth quarter to defeat the WCC regular season champs 73–55 on "Senior Day".
In the WCC tournament, the Zags lose to the Santa Clara Broncos 59-58 for their earliest tournament exit since the 2005-06 season.
The Zags received an at-large bid for the WNIT, their first WNIT bid since the 2007-08 season.
The Zags hosted the UC-Riverside Highlanders; the Big West regular season champs at the McCarthey Athletic Center on March 17, where the Lady Zags defeated the Highlanders 88–54 and the Zags will host the Utah Utes.
The Zags hosted the Utah Utes, where the Zags lost to the Utes 92–77 to end their season at 19-14. The Zags finished one game shy of playing against their former coach; Kelly Graves and his Oregon Ducks, where his Ducks won 84–59 the same night the Zags played against the Utes.

2016-2017 Season

The Zags finished non-conference play with a 9-2 record, including upset victories over #11 ranked Stanford at their homecourt on November 18th and over Northwestern at the McCarthey Athletic Center on December 19th. The Zags started the WCC conference schedule with losses to Pepperdine in Malibu and Pacific at home.
After losing the first two games, the Zags finished conference play, winning 14 of the last 16 games and they were crowned with the WCC regular season title by defeating the San Diego Toreros 62-57 on "Senior Night" in front of a sellout crowd of 6,000 at McCarthey Athletic Center. This marks the Zags 12th regular season title and the second title under the Fortier era.
The Zags were rewarded with the #1 seed in the WCC tournament and they defeated 9th seeded Pacific Tigers 91-59 on March 3rd, 4th seeded San Francisco Dons 77-46 on March 6th, and 3rd seeded Saint Mary's Gaels 86-75 to win their 7th WCC tournament title in program history and the first tournament title under Fortier.
After winning the WCC tournament, the Zags were selected as an #11 seed and they will face Sherri Coale's Oklahoma Sooners at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion. This marked the ninth NCAA tournament appearance for the Zags and the second under Fortier.
The Zags season came to an end with a 75-62 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners to finish their season with a 26-7 record.

Personal life

Lisa is married to Craig Fortier, whom she met when they went to Cal State Monterey Bay together. Craig was formerly the associate head coach for Jim Hayford's Eastern Washington men's basketball team before being hired for the assistant coach position for his wife Lisa's Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball team. They have two sons: Marcus and Calvin, and a daughter Quincy.

Notable Women's Basketball played under Coach Fortier

Awards and honors