Cathy Nixon begins her 12th season as head coach of Utah Valley State women's basketball in 2006. Nixon will lead the Wolverines into their 4th season of NCAA play as the only NCAA women's basketball coach in the school's short Division-I history.

Her record speaks for itself as her ball clubs have amassed a 216-124 record in 11 seasons, including two NJCAA appearances at the junior college level. In the Wolverines' first season of NCAA play in 2003-04, she led the team to a respectable 11-13 record.

The following year, the Wolverines finished the season on a two-game win streak and a 3rd place finish in the Division-I Independent Tournament.

In 2005-06, she led the team to a NCAA school record 11 wins, including 10 against Division-I schools. All of it came with four freshman in the starting lineup for the majority of the season, including D-I Independent Newcomer of the Year and 1st Team selection Robyn Fairbanks.

In her inaugural year (1995-96), Nixon guided Utah Valley to its best finish ever during the school's junior college era. After claiming the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), Region 18, and District crowns, Nixon's squad went on to take fourth in the country at the NJCAA National Championships. The Wolverines finished 29-6 that year, earning Nixon Region 18 Coach of the Year honors.

Nixon also led Utah Valley to the SWAC title in her second year (1996-97) with a 15-3 league record and 25-7 overall mark.

She led the Wolverines back to the NJCAA National Championships in the 2000-01 season. The team finished the year 27-10 and in seventh place at the national tournament.

Prior to taking over as head coach, Nixon served four years as an assistant to long-time coach Tom Perkins.

Before coming to Utah Valley, Nixon served as an assistant coach at Brigham Young University for three years; one year under Courtney Leishman and two years with Jeanie Wilson.

As a player Nixon was All-State four times at Duncanville High School in Texas, and led her team to the state finals twice. Her junior and senior seasons she was selected as a high school All-American. She played at Duncanville for legendary coach Sandra Meadows, who led the school to four state titles during her tenure. Meadows is enshrined in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Duncanville Pantherettes now play in Sandra Meadows Memorial Arena, named after the late coach.

After graduation from Duncanville in 1984, Nixon went on to play college basketball for Brigham Young University, where she became a four-year starter for a Cougar club that finished no worse than second in the conference during her time there.

She finished her career in Provo as the fourth highest scorer in BYU women's basketball history with 1,771 career points. She is also fifth all-time in blocks at BYU with 79.

In addition to receiving numerous conference, region, and tournament awards, she garnered All-Conference recognition all four years, and All-America status her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Nixon final averages as a Cougar are 16.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. She shot 50 percent from the field and 73 percent from the free throw line. Her career best in scoring came against Florida in 1987 when she netted 36 points. Her career high in rebounds came against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on December 4, 1985, when she pulled down 16 boards.

Nixon graduated from Brigham Young University in 1989 with a bachelor s degree in elementary education. She later completed her master's degree in education, also from BYU. She comes from a basketball family with four older brothers, who all played basketball throughout high school. Her brother Tom also played for BYU on the junior varsity squad.