This offseason, the NCAA allowed college basketball coaching staffs to add two coaches to their rosters. Though these coaches can’t participate in off-campus recruiting, they can coach the players, and that’s a win-win: More coaches get opportunities on the sideline, and more players get direct attention in practices and games. (Hey, way to go, NCAA!)
This means there are roughly 1,500 assistants in women’s college basketball. And no, not all of them will go on to become head coaches. And frankly, some of them don’t want to. But many are gleaning as much as they can in their roles so that if the call comes, they’re ready to run a program as a first-time head coach.
Through conversations with coaches and trusted women’s college basketball insiders across the country, I’ve identified some of those rising stars. I did the same in 2020 and 2021 (not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but …), and from those lists, roughly half are running their own programs.
So, I’m hitting like Caitlin Clark pulling up from 3 on the left wing here, and I’m hoping I don’t have a heat check anytime soon.
As always, these are the parameters: These are coaches who have never led their own NCAA programs. I’ve done my best not to repeat coaches who’ve been on previous…
