By Elizabeth A. Davis
They say the best point guard is an extension of the coach on the court.
Kellie Jolly Harper has taken that idea to a whole new level. The former Lady Vols point guard led Tennessee to an unprecedented three straight national championships as Coach Pat Summitt’s ambassador on the court. Now Harper is taking Summitt’s teachings to another historical women’s basketball powerhouse as the coach of her own team.
“Being at Tennessee and playing under Pat and watching how the program was run just made me want to try to coach at that level,” says Harper, who began her first season as the new head coach at North Carolina State in November.
“I’m not trying to be Pat Summitt, but I am trying to imitate the wonderful things she does as coach.”
Harper, with her All-American teammate Chamique Holdsclaw, helped Tennessee dominate women’s basketball by winning national titles in 1996, 1997, and 1998. The 1997–98 team went 39-0. The Sparta, Tennessee, native, wearing her signature blond French braid in every game, was a fan favorite because of her toughness and grit. She was inducted into the Tennessee Lady Volunteer Hall of Fame in October 2009.
Harper set the record for most assists in an NCAA championship game with 11 in 1997, and the 43 minutes she played in the Lady Vols’ 1997 Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal win in overtime is a record for most minutes played in a conference tournament game.
“As a player at Tennessee, Kellie helped lead us to three consecutive NCAA titles because she was smart and always outworked her opponent,” Summitt said when Harper was announced as N.C. State’s coach. “As a coach, I’ve seen what a keen basketball mind she has. She is always looking for a way to give her team the best chance to be in a position to win.”
After graduating from UT Knoxville in 1999, Harper was drafted by the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers. During the small window in between graduating and starting her career, she married Jon Harper, who was a manager for the women’s basketball team at Auburn. He is currently an assistant with her at N.C. State.
Later in 1999 she moved into coaching as an assistant at Auburn. For three seasons, she was an assistant at UT Chattanooga, helping lead the Lady Mocs to three straight NCAA tournament appearances.
In 2004 she was named head coach at Western Carolina, which twice won the Southern Conference tournament and the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
Harper was hired by N.C. State after legendary coach Kay Yow died in January 2009 following a long fight against breast cancer. Harper knows she cannot fill that void and understands the emotions surrounding such a difficult time for all of N.C. State’s current and former players.
“Fortunately for me, I understand the camaraderie that former players have among each other and the love they had for Kay Yow. It is exactly the way we would have been at Tennessee,” Harper says.
With her busy job as a coach, it’s hard to find time to visit with Summitt or her former teammates. That’s because so many of them have the same excuse—they’re coaches now too. In all, 46 former Lady Vols are or have been coaches at the high-school, college, or professional level. And 14 former graduate assistants, 5 assistants, 3 managers, and 3 directors of basketball operations have gone into coaching.
“When we’re out recruiting, we see each other a lot,” Harper says about former Lady Vols. “The Final Four is typically a Lady Vol reunion because there are so many former players that are now coaching.”
A Stepping Stone to the Coaching Ranks
Lady Vol head coach Pat Summitt has not only produced a number of outstanding players during her 34 years at the helm of the UT program, but she has turned out some successful coaches as well.
Currently, the list of coaches at the professional, collegiate and high school levels stands at 71 and represents 46 former Lady Vol players, 14 former graduate assistants, five assistant coaches, three managers, and three basketball operations directors, who now are serving or have served in the coaching ranks.
Key: “P” indicates player; “GA” indicates graduate assistant; “A” indicates assistant; “M” indicates manager; “BO” indicates basketball operations director
Professional Ranks
|
Name |
Position & Years at UT |
Current or Last Position |
|
Nancy Darsch |
A/GA (78-85) |
Former assistant at Minnesota Lynx (WNBA) |
|
Danielle Donehew |
BO (01-08) |
Executive VP at Atlanta Dream (WNBA) |
|
Tanya Haave |
P (80-84) |
Former head coach at “Satila” Skene, Sweden |
|
Lisa Harrison |
P (89-93) |
Former assistant at Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) |
|
Carla McGhee |
P (86-90) |
Former WNBA Player Personnel |
|
Carolyn Peck |
A (93-95) |
Former head at Orlando Miracle (WNBA) |
|
Trish Roberts |
P (76-77) |
Former head at Atlanta Glory (ABL) |
|
Heidi VanDerveer |
GA (86-88) |
Former assistant at Seattle Storm (WNBA) |
College Ranks
|
Name |
Position & Years at UT |
Current or Last Position |
|
Jody Adams |
P (89-93) |
Head at Wichita State |
|
Jane Albright |
GA (81-83) |
Former head at Wichita State University |
|
Kathy Allen |
GA (02-04) |
Assistant at UAB |
|
Sheila Frost Anderson |
P (85-89) |
Former assistant at University of Richmond |
|
Debbie Ayres |
GA (89-90) |
Assistant at Stony Brook |
|
Alysiah Bond |
BO (98-01) |
Assistant at Arizona |
|
Al Brown |
A (91-02) |
Assistant at Duke |
|
Greg Brown |
A/GA (02-04) |
Assistant at Central Florida |
|
Niya Butts |
P (96-00) |
Head at Arizona |
|
Tasha Butts |
P (00-04) |
Assistant at UCLA |
|
Nikki Caldwell |
P (90-94); A (03-08) |
Head at UCLA |
|
Shelia Collins |
P (81-85) |
Former head at West Georgia College |
|
Abby Conklin |
P (93-97) |
Assistant at University of San Francisco |
|
Kelli Casteel Cook |
P (88-92) |
Former head at Maryville College |
|
Tony Cross |
GA (83-84) |
Head at Belmont University |
|
Nancy Darsch |
A/GA (78-85) |
Former head at Ohio State |
|
Mickie DeMoss |
A (85-03) |
Assistant at University of Texas |
|
Rochone Dilligard |
P (91-94) |
Former assistant at Austin Peay |
|
Todd Dooley |
M (94-97) |
Former assistant at Maryville College |
|
Tonya Edwards |
P (86-90) |
Head at Alcorn State |
|
Angel Elderkin |
GA (06-07) |
Assistant at University of Virginia |
|
Kyra Elzy |
P (96-01) |
Assistant at University of Kentucky |
|
Sharon Fanning |
GA (75-76) |
Head at Mississippi State University |
|
Alex Fuller |
P (04-09) |
Graduate Assistant at University of Kansas |
|
Daedra Charles Furlow |
P (89-91) |
Assistant at University of Tennessee |
|
Teresa Geter |
P (97-99) |
Head at Denmark Technical College |
|
Bridgette Gordon |
P (85-89) |
Assistant at Georgia State |
|
Aubrey Guastalli |
P (05-06) |
Former assistant at Fresno Pacific |
|
Tanya Haave |
P (80-84) |
Head at University of San Francisco |
|
Sylvia Hatchell |
GA (74-75) |
Head at University of North Carolina |
|
Cindy Noble Hauserman |
P (78-81) |
Retired head at Centre College |
|
Dena Head |
P (88-92) |
Former Assistant at Central Connecticut State University |
|
Marlene Jeter |
P (90-92) |
Former head at Clinton J.C. (S.C.) |
|
Bernitha Johnson |
M (03-05) |
Assistant at Binghamton University |
|
Dana Johnson |
P (91-95) |
Former assistant at Morgan State University |
|
Kellie Jolly Harper |
P (95-99) |
Head at North Carolina State University |
|
Nancy Bowman Ladd |
P (73-75) |
Retired head at University of the South |
|
Angela Lawson |
GA (89-91) |
Head at University of the Incarnate Word |
|
Cheryl Littlejohn |
P (83-87) |
Former head at Chicago State University |
|
Lea Henry Manning |
P (79-83) |
Head at Georgia State University |
|
Michelle Marciniak |
P (93-96) |
Former assistant at South Carolina |
|
Nikki McCray |
P (91-95) |
Assistant at South Carolina |
|
Calamity McEntire |
M (02-03) |
Director of Basketball Operations at UC Santa Barbara |
|
Carla McGhee |
P (86-90) |
Assistant at South Carolina |
|
Matthew Mitchell |
GA (99-00) |
Head coach at University of Kentucky |
|
Zandra Montgomery Morris |
P (77-79) |
Former assistant at Lee University |
|
Mary Ostrowski |
P (80-84) |
Former assistant at Ohio State University |
|
Carolyn Peck |
A (93-95) |
Former head at University of Florida |
|
Shalon Pillow |
P (98-02) |
Assistant at University of Kentucky |
|
Semeka Randall |
P (97-01) |
Head at Ohio University |
|
Jill Rankin Schneider |
P (79-80); GA (80-81) |
Assistant at University of Texas |
|
Trish Roberts |
P (76-77) |
Former head at Stony Brook |
|
Joy Scruggs |
P (72-75) |
Head at Emory & Henry College |
|
Amber Stocks |
BO/GA (00-02) |
Assistant at Xavier University |
|
Judy Southard |
GA (77-78) |
Retired head at Marshall University |
|
Pam Tanner |
GA/A (90-93) |
Former head at University of Denver |
|
Heidi VanDerveer |
GA (86-88) |
Head at Occidental College |
|
Holly Warlick |
P (76-80); A (86-08) |
Associate at University of Tennessee |
High School Ranks
|
Name |
Position & Years at UT |
Current or Last Position |
|
Janet Allmon |
GA (83-84) |
Former head at Baldwin (Ga.) H.S. |
|
Sheila Frost Anderson |
P (85-89) |
Assistant at Giles Co. H.S. |
|
Debbie Ayres |
GA (89-90) |
Former head at California School for the Deaf |
|
Diane Brady |
P (74-75) |
Former head at McMinn Co. H.S. |
|
Cindy Brogdon |
P (77-79) |
Former head at Centennial (Ga.) H.S |
|
Debbie Groover Buckner |
P (77-81) |
Assistant at Woodstock (Ga.) H.S. |
|
Shelley Sexton Collier |
P (83-87) |
Head at Webb (Tenn.) H.S. |
|
Abby Conklin |
P (93-97) |
Former head at Trinity (Ill.) H.S. |
|
Karla Horton Douglas |
P (84-87) |
Assistant at Webb (Tenn.) H.S. |
|
Rochone Dilligard |
P (91-94) |
Former head at Lebanon H.S. |
|
Tonya Edwards |
P (86-90) |
Former head at Northwestern (Mich.) H.S. |
|
Cindy Noble Hauserman |
P (78-81) |
Head at Chillicothe (Ohio) H.S. |
|
Marlene Jeter |
P (90-92) |
Assistant at Victory Christian Center (N.C.) H.S. |
|
Dana Johnson |
P (91-95) |
Assistant at Western High (Md.) H.S. |
|
Dawn Marsh |
P (84-88) |
Former head at Duluth (Ga.) H.S. |
|
Zandra Montgomery Morris |
P (77-79) |
Former head at Cleveland (Tenn.) H.S. boys team |
|
Pam Owens |
GA (06) |
Head at Judson (San Antonio, Texas) H.S. |
|
Jill Rankin Schneider |
P (79-80); GA (80-81) |
Head at Monterey (Texas) H.S. |
|
Suzanne Barbre Singleton |
P (74-78) |
Former head at Maryville (Tenn.) H.S. |
|
Tiffany Woosley |
P (91-95) |
Former head at Lincoln County (Fayetteville, Tenn.) H.S. |
