On August 6, UMBC Director of Athletics Charles Brown announced the hiring of Phil Stern as head women's basketball coach.

"We are very excited to have Phil Stern at the helm of our women's basketball program," said Brown. "We believe that Phil is the person that we have been looking for to jump start our team in a very positive way. He's turned two collegiate programs around, and I'm confident that he will do the same thing here at UMBC."

"I am extremely excited about the opportunity given to me by Charles Brown and President Freeman Hrabowski," said Stern. "UMBC has all of the resources necessary both athletically and academically to compete at a very high level. I look forward to getting to know the returning players and revitalizing UMBC women's basketball."

Stern, the eighth head coach in UMBC's history, has spent the last four seasons as the head coach at the University of South Carolina-Aiken (Division II), where he revitalized a floundering program. Stern enjoyed a 64-47 (.577) record with the Lady Pacers, but was an even more impressive 44-13 (.772) over the past two years. In the three seasons before Stern's arrival, USC Aiken went a combined 20-61.

Last year, USC-Aiken made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and captured the school's first Peach Belt Conference Regular Season Championship. The Lady Pacers won their second consecutive North Division Title, finishing with a 22-6 overall record and were 24th in the WBCA/ESPN/USA Today Division II Coaches Poll. USC Aiken has also fared extremely well in the classroom, finishing 14th in the WBCA Division II Academic Poll with a team grade point average of 3.43 during the 2000-2001 season. Prior to Stern's arrival in July 1998, the team GPA stood at 2.10.

During his tenure at USC Aiken, Stern was recognized both within the Peach Belt Conference as well as nationally. He was selected by his peers as the Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year after the 1999-2000 and 2001-02 seasons. Stern was honored nationally when he was named the WBCA District III Coach of the Year in 2002 and the Women's Division II Bulletin Coach of the Month for December 1999.

He was also the architect of a revival at Dowling College (Oakdale, New York), where he spent two seasons. In the three years previous to his arrival, Dowling won only 22 games. However, in just his first season, Stern led the Lady Lions to a 16-12 record and the school's first winning season. Dowling enjoyed a winning record again the following year.

Stern received his first head women's coaching job at Holy Child High School (Westbury, NY) where he compiled a 52-13 mark with three conference titles and three state tournament bids in his three seasons at the helm.

A native of Oceanside, NY, Stern is a 1994 graduate of Concordia, where he played basketball and baseball. Stern earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Education.