Former Gonzaga women's coach and current Oregon head coach Kelly Graves will always be considered as the architect of the rise of the program. He spearheaded the Zags first ever tournament berth in 2007, and since then Gonzaga has either made the big dance or the NIT each year since.
The peak for the program was 2010-12 with three straight sweet sixteen appearances, with the highest ever run to the elite eight in 11. However, Graves always wondered whether the Zags reached their ceiling as a mid major program, and in 2014 he jumped to the PAC-12 to rebuild a struggling Oregon team.