Joanne P. McCallie made her way to Durham via Michigan State were she spent the past seven seasons as head coach, while leading the Spartans to a 149-75 mark. She led Michigan State to five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, four straight 20-win seasons and an appearance in the NCAA Championship game in 2005. She molded Michigan State basketball into one of the elite programs in the nation, which includes an 81-23 record over the last three years.

McCallie guided Michigan State to its best season in school history in 2004-05 as the Spartans advanced to the National Championship game, won a school-record 33 games, won a school-record 14 Big Ten games, while sharing their second Big Ten regular-season championship, won their first Big Ten Tournament title, finished 13-0 at home, had a school-record 17-game winning streak and beat 13 nationally-ranked teams, including four teams ranked No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3.

After leading Michigan State to a remarkable season in 2004-05, McCallie was named National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, Basketball Times, and Nike, as well as being voted Big Ten Coach of the Year by the league's media. She was also selected the 2005 Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan College Coach of the Year.

A native of Brunswick, Maine, McCallie owns a career mark of 316-148 during her 15-year stint as a head coach at Maine and Michigan State. As a coach and player, she has led her teams to 13 conference titles, 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, five NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, four NCAA Elite Eight appearances, three NCAA Final Four appearances and three NCAA Championship game appearances.

The former Joanne Palombo, prior to getting married to John McCallie, played her collegiate basketball at Northwestern from 1984-87. McCallie graduated from Northwestern in 1987 with a degree in political science and earned a master's degree in business administration from Auburn in 1990. The McCallie family includes husband John, daughter Madeline (Maddie) and son John Wyatt (Jack).