The 2011-12 season marks Lori Gear McBride's second season at the helm of the Univeristy of Vermont women's basketball program.  She was introduced as the head coach of the Catamounts on May 15, 2010.  Since arriving, she has recruited back-to-back classes of student-athletes rated best in the conference by All-Star Girls Report as she continues the rebuilding process at UVM.

"We are excited to have Lori Gear McBride assume the leadership of our women's basketball program. We know that, under her direction, our student-athletes will continue to be outstanding representatives of our university, focused on excellence in their academic work and on the basketball court," stated Dr. Robert Corran, Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics at Vermont, upon hiring Gear McBride.

"Lori's predecessors have set a high standard for the women's basketball program but she has shown the qualities and character needed to take the program to even greater heights. We are honored to introduce her as the newest member of our community and look forward with much anticipation to the 2010-2011 season and the years ahead."

Gear McBride, who won an NCAA National Championship as a member of the University of North Carolina squad in 1994, is the seventh head coach at Vermont since 1979.

Gear McBride comes to Vermont after spending the past five seasons as the head women's basketball coach at Colby College. During her stint at Colby, Gear McBride can be credited with turning the program around. She arrived at the Waterville, Maine school inheriting a team that had posted losing seasons in three of the previous four years, and quickly turned Colby into one of the top Division III teams in the country.

This past season she led the Mules to a 24-5 record, setting a new school record for most wins. Colby was ranked second in New England, the highest ranking the program has achieved, and also earned its first-ever national ranking in 2009-10. The Mules climbed as high as No. 20 in the USA Today/ESPN Division III Top 25 Coaches' Poll.

Gear McBride led Colby to a second place finish this past year, the highest finish in the program's history. The Mules advanced to the NESCAC Championship game where it fell to top-ranked Amherst. Colby went on to earn its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid and hosted its first-ever NCAA game. Colby defeated Husson in the opening round, but fell to Babson in double-overtime in the second round.
Gear McBride's Colby squads also excelled academically, posting a 3.49 team grade point average in 2009-10.

"I believe strongly in the symmetry between academic and athletic success and the appreciation of this at Vermont was very attractive. We will be a program that works hard toward achieving success in both areas and supports the young women in every possible way."

Gear McBride also brings six years of coaching experience at the Division I level to the Vermont program. She spent five years as an assistant at Seton Hall University (1998-2003), including two years as assistant head coach. She also spent the 2003-04 campaign as an assistant at University of North Carolina-Charlotte where she helped produce a top-30 recruiting class.

Following her one-year stint at UNC-Charlotte, Gear McBride returned to New Jersey to take the head girl's basketball coaching position at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School (Scotch Plains, N.J.). She led the team to a 24-5 record, including a berth in the state playoffs and the Union County Championship. Three of her players went on to continue their careers at the Division I level, including 2006 Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year Hillary Klimowicz.

Gear McBride, who was born in Montreal and grew up in Lennoxville, Quebec, earned a master's degree in corporate and public communications from Seton Hall. She graduated from North Carolina in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in education.

While a member of the Tar Heels, she was one of two freshmen to play on the 1994 national championship team (the other was Marion Jones). Gear McBride played on three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship teams in her four years and was a co-captain as a junior and senior. She was the North Carolina women's basketball scholar-athlete in 1997 and was selected to the ACC Athletic Honor Roll all four years. While at North Carolina the Tar Heels went 105-24 in Gear McBride's four years.

Following her collegiate career, she played one season of professional basketball in Portugal.

Gear McBride also played in the Canada Basketball system from 1992-1995. She represented her home country in two World University Games and played for the Canadian National Team in 1995. She played scholastically at Alexander Galt High School and Champlain College (Lennoxville).

Gear McBride and her husband, Pat, are the proud parents of two children - Jackson (6) and Allie (2).