For five decades, Betty Wiseman has been an active figure at Belmont University. As a student, coach, and professor, Wiseman has been a great ambassador for the University and the Department of Athletics.
After graduating from Belmont in 1965, the Portland, Tennessee native was named as Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education in 1966 and began a teaching career of 40 years. She was named Professor Emeritus in the Department of Health and Human Performance in 2006 where she served as Chair for six years. In 1968 the former high school basketball standout began a new career as a women's sports trailblazer when she founded the women's basketball program at Belmont, one of the first programs, not only in the state, but in the southeast. Wiseman was the head women's basketball coach at Belmont for 16 seasons, compiling a 248-152 record. She led Belmont to four consecutive berths in the National Women's Invitational Tournament from 1973-1977. In those tournaments, her teams knocked off such programs as Alabama, Nebraska, and North Carolina. She was inducted into the Belmont Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981.
Wiseman has been honored by several organizations for her contributions to collegiate athletics. In 1999 she was given the Josten-Berenson Service Award by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association during the NCAA Women's Final Four in San Jose, California to recognize her lifelong commitment to women's basketball. In 2003 Belmont honored her by naming part of the university's new athletic facility the Striplin-Wiseman Athletic Office Complex. Finally, in 2004, Wiseman was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame for her contributions to promoting women's basketball in the state. She is the first Belmont coach or athlete to be so honored. In July 2007 she was featured in an article on the front page of The Tennessean, as a Tennessee Sports Legend.
More recently, when Nashville hosted the 2014 NCAA Women's Final Four, The Tennessean selected Wiseman as part of its 'Elite 8 Legendary Ladies' who made the greatest impact on women's basketball in the state of Tennessee.
In 2022, Wiseman was inducted into the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities (TICUA) Hall of Fame and was selected as a Missouri Valley Conference Title IX Trailblazer.
