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We continue our season preview coverage with new Tennessee women’s head coach Kellie Harper. The Lady Vols have had a pretty good run of head coaches over the past 50 years. Margaret Hutson went 60–18 during her 4 years as coach, Pat Summitt won 1098 games including 8 NCAA titles from 1987-2008, and Holly Warlick made the NCAA tourney during each of her 7 years from 2013-2019. In April the school turned to former player Kellie Harper to uphold the tradition. Harper won 3 straight NCAA titles as a player under Coach Summitt in the late-1990s, then led 3 different schools to the NCAA tourney as head coach during the past 15 years. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Harper about going 39-0 in 1998 and having her husband as 1 of her assistant coaches.
You grew up in Tennessee: what made you choose the Lady Vols, and what was it like to play for the legendary Pat Summitt? I wanted to play for the best program in the country so I chose Tennessee. Playing for Pat was intense and demanding but also very rewarding. We were playing for the most famous woman in the state of Tennessee and, of course, all of basketball.
You were the starting PG for a program that won 3 straight titles from 1996-1998: did it reach a point where you just expected to win every time that you stepped onto the court, and where do you think that 1998 team that finished 39-0 ranks among the best in the history of the sport? Quite frankly, yes. We expected to win every game we played regardless of who or where we were playing. We believed we were going to win a national championship each year.
In the 1997 NCAA title game you set a record with 11 AST in a win over Old Dominion and in the 1998 NCAA title game you scored a career-high 20 PTS/4-5 3PM in a win over Louisiana Tech: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? I think those were games in which our opponents had to game-plan a little more for our All-Americans. You cannot guard Chamique Holdsclaw/Tamika Catchings/Semeka Randall without giving up something. I was open a bit more and needed to make a few more plays for our team in those games.
You are 1 of a handful of women’s basketball coaches to lead 3 different schools (Western Carolina/NC State/Missouri State) to the NCAA tourney: how have you been able to be so successful at so many different programs? First of all, we want to do things the right way. Second, our teams have been known for their effort and toughness and ability to improve over the course of a season. We were also fortunate to recruit talented players who fit our system.
Last season as head coach at Missouri State you started 1-7 but ended up being named conference COY after winning 25 games and making it all the way to the Sweet 16 before losing to Stanford: how were you able to turn things around last December despite having only 1 senior on the roster? We knew that we had a talented roster, albeit very young. Our biggest hurdle was getting our players to believe in themselves (and each other) early in the season when things were not going well in the win column while playing a pretty rigorous schedule. Our team bought in and improved…and it paid off in a big way.
You were hired as head coach of your alma mater in April: could you have ever imagined becoming the Tennessee head coach when you were playing there 20 years ago, and how is it going so far? No. This is something that I never dreamed about growing up, probably because I felt (as did everyone else) that Pat was going to coach forever. Things have gone well thus far. I have had a lot on my plate, which is normal during a transition, but I have a tremendous staff that is working very hard to help this program be where it needs to be.
1 of your assistants is your husband Jon: what is the best part of having your husband work for you, and what is the not-so-best part? The best part of us working together is having a husband who not only completely understands the demands of this job but is just as invested as I am. The not-so-best part is navigating our schedule while raising 2 children: it takes some creative juggling at times. This program is a big part of our family, and vice versa, so our children have a lot of big sisters and are growing up in a unique environment.
You went 4-2 vs. UConn during your playing career: what is your favorite memory from any of those 6 games, and how excited are you to be renewing the rivalry this January as the schools face each other for the 1st time since 2007? Those games were usually very intense and well-attended. One of my favorite memories was back in 1997 when we beat UConn in Iowa City to go to the Final Four. Our team came together strong and peaked at the right time to win a national championship.
1 of your incoming freshmen is Jordan Horston, who was named MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game last March: how does she look so far, and what kind of an impact do you think that she can make this season as an 18-year old? Jordan is a talented and competitive young lady and a wonderful person. I have enjoyed coaching her and am excited about her future. Jordan is a playmaker who makes her teammates better because of her ability to create with the ball.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I want our team to be the best possible team that we can be. I want to see us maximize our potential and show continued improvement throughout the season. Those are goals that would put us in strong contention for postseason advancement.