Kellie Harper - Women's Basketball Coach (2024)

HARPER FEATURE VIDEO

Classy. Personable. Trustworthy. Intentional. Proficient. Determined. Those are just a few of the adjectives that aptly describe Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper, who recently completed her fifth season.

One of only two skippers to guide four different programs to the NCAA Tournament, the 1999 UT graduate and three-time national champion point guard joined Jim Foster in that select company in 2020-21. She did so while directing programs at Western Carolina, NC State, Missouri State and Tennessee. Foster accomplished that feat during stops at St. Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Chattanooga during a career lasting from 1978 to 2018.

The respect for Harper’s leadership capabilities, basketball acumen and development of the UT program has been underscored by her selection to the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee, upon which she is serving from 2021-24. It was further underscored in 2022-23, when USA TODAY Sports Network voted her as its Preseason SEC Coach of the Year.

In 20 complete years as a Division I head coach, Harper has led her teams to a 393-260 record and 16 postseason appearances (9 NCAA/7 WNIT) through the 2023-24 campaign. She has piloted her squads to 15 top-three league finishes and four conference tourney titles along the way, and in 2022-23 led a team to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons the event was held, including her final unit at Missouri State and her 2021-22 and 2022-23 editions at Tennessee.

During her five years on Rocky Top, Harper has led the program on a steady upward path. Two of her past three teams won 25 games, including a 25-9/11-5 SEC record in 2021-22 and a 25-12/13-3 SEC worksheet in 2022-23, despite losing All-SEC performers and game-changers Jordan Horston and Tamari Key in back-to-back campaigns. The Lady Vols’ 13 SEC wins a year ago were the most since 2014-15, and they recorded 25 victories in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013-14 and 2014-15.

In 2023-24, UT again battled signigicant injuries, this time to star player Rickea Jackson and point guard Destinee Wells and overcame a slow start to play its best basketball by season’s end, making the SEC Tournament semifinals and NCAA Second Round before its journey came to an end at 20-13 overall and 10-6 in league play. The tourney berth was its NCAA-record 42nd straight.

In 2022-23, Tennessee advanced to its second straight NCAA Sweet 16 and made its first trip to the SEC Tournament championship game since 2015, defeating #4/3 LSU in the semifinals and falling to #1/1 South Carolina during the title game in Greenville, S.C.

Harper is 108-52 overall and 53-24 vs. SEC competition during her tenure on Rocky Top, ranking third in winning percentage in league games behind only LSU’s Kim Mulkey and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.

A native of Sparta, Tenn., Harper was a floor general for the legendary Pat Summitt at UT from 1995-99, playing 132 games and piloting the Lady Vols to NCAA National Championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. She was part of a senior class that helped the Big Orange forge a 131-17 overall record as well as win two SEC regular season titles (1998, 1999) and three SEC Tournament crowns (1996, 1998, 1999).

High school recruits and players in the transfer portal have been drawn to Harper’s valuable experiences as a player who reached the pinnacle at the all-time winningest program in women’s college basketball history. The LVFL also attracts players who cherish a welcoming family environment and an atmosphere of competitive excellence that is embraced by arguably the country’s most supportive fan base.

She was able to keep the previously signed No. 9 class (Jordan Horston, Tamari Key) intact when she was hired in 2019, managed to ink future starters Tess Darby, Keyen Green, Marta Suárez and Jordan Walker during the pandemic in 2020, and followed with a No. 15-ranked group in 2021 (including starters Sara Puckett and Karoline Striplin). She also added seven players through the portal the past two seasons, including key contributors Rickea Jackson, Jillian Hollingshead, Jasmine Powell and Jasmine Franklin in 2022 and the nation’s No. 6 ranked portal class in 2023 by 247Sports in Jewel Spear, Destinee Wells and Avery Strickland.

UT signees also have embraced a coaching style from a mentor who builds foundational relationships and challenges young women daily to become the best players, teammates, students, leaders and people they can be. That formula has proven successful for everything from program chemistry to team success to individual accomplishments.

During Harper’s time at Tennessee, she coached four WNBA first-round picks in Rennia Davis (2021), Rae Burrell (2022), Jordan Horston (2023) and Rickea Jackson (2024. It marked the first time in school history that UT had players selected in the first round in four consecutive seasons. Pat Summitt produced the previous best with three-straightfirst-round picks in 2001 (Tamika Catchings), 2002 (Michelle Snow) and 2003 (Gwen Jackson, Kara Lawson). Tennessee is the only women’s program to have two different coaches accomplish that feat.

Harper also becameone of only three coaches all-time to produce four straight first-round picks in the WNBA Draft. She joinedUConn's Geno Auriemma (2008-11, 2013-16) and Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw (2012-15) in that company.

In 2022, Alexus Dye also earned a shot at the WNBA, going to camp with the Connecticut Sun. Previously, Lou Brown and Kasiyahna Kushkituah earned opportunities to play professionally overseas following their Lady Vol careers.

Davis (2020 AP/USBWA/WBCA, 2021 AP/USBWA/WBCA), Horston (2022 AP/WBCA, 2021 AP/WBCA) and Jackson (2023 AP/USBWA/WBCA, 2024 AP/USBWA) were All-America Honorable Mention selections under Harper’s tutelage, and Davis claimed the Senior Class Award in 2021 as well.

At the league level, Harper has tutored All-SEC First-Teamers Davis (2020, 2021), Horston (2022, 2023) and Jackson (2023, 2024); All-SEC Second-Teamers Burrell (2021) and Tamari Key (2022); SEC All-Defensive Team member Key (2021, 2022); SEC All-Freshman Team honorees Horston (2020), Suárez (2021) and Puckett (2022); and SEC All-Tournament Team members Dye (2022), Horston (2023) and Jackson (2023).

In the classroom, 18 of 29 Lady Vols playing for Harper have earned SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition a total of 38 times through 2022-23. A program-best 12 of 14 Lady Vols made the honor roll in 2021-22, while nine (of 13) made it in 2020-21, nine (of 15) made it in 2022-23 and eight (of 12) did so in 2019-20. That ’19-20 group carded a Lady Vol best-ever GPA of 3.48.

HARPER YEAR-BY-YEAR AT TENNESSEE

2019-20: Harper personally enjoyed the (then) finest start of any season in her career at 7-0 and recorded the most victories in her first season at a school (21-10), as UT climbed to a high ranking of No. 17. She picked up her 300th overall career win vs. Alabama and surpassed her 500th contest as a head coach along the way as UT tied for third in the SEC before the season ended without an NCAA Tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020-21: In year two for Harper, the Lady Vols climbed as high as No. 13 in the AP Poll. They earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round and a 17-8 record despite having four games canceled due to COVID and losing three post players to season-ending injuries. UT carded an outright third-place finish in the SEC and defeated four ranked teams, including No. 2/3 South Carolina in Knoxville and No. 15/15 Indiana in Bloomington.
2021-22: Tennessee returned to national prominence in Harper’s third year, but season-ending injuries to three players limited the team’s ceiling after it began the year 18-1 (best start since 2007-08) and climbed to No. 4 in the AP Poll. Still, UT finished 25-9, placed third in the SEC at 11-5, beat five ranked foes and advanced to Harper’s second career Sweet 16, the first for UT since 2015-16. Harper matched personal bests for wins in a season (25) and deepest NCAA tourney run (Sweet 16), and she had her most wins ever over ranked teams (5). The Tennessee Sports Writers Association named her the organization’s state women’s college basketball coach of the year.
2022-23: The Lady Vols recorded 25 wins (25-12) in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013-14 and 2014-15, their 13 SEC victories (13-3, 3rd) were their most since 2014-15 and their trip to the SEC Tournament title game was their first since 2015. A fourth consecutive top-three SEC regular season finish tied South Carolina as the only programs to do so during that span, and UT’s advancement to back-to-back Sweet 16s made it one of just seven schools to advance to that round in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. Harper guided teams to back-to-back 25-win seasons and NCAA Sweet 16s for the first time in her career and matched Pat Summitt’s UT record by producing a first-round WNBA Draft pick for a third consecutive season.
2023-24: UT overcame adversity to finish 20-13 overall and 10-6 (4th) in SEC play, marking the program’s 47th all-time 20-win season, and it extended its perfect streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to 42 straight. UT lost, 74-73, to No. 1 South Carolina in the SEC Tournament semifinals and fell to Final Four team NC State, 79-72, in the NCAA Second Round.

Only the third Lady Vol head coach in the NCAA era of women’s basketball, Harper took the reins at Tennessee after six years of leading the Missouri State Lady Bears, capped by the 2018-19 season’s impressive march to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and magical run to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Harper guided Missouri State to NCAA appearances in 2015-16 and 2018-19 with WNIT berths on three other occasions. At previous schools, she also led North Carolina State to the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10 (plus two WNIT appearances) and guided Western Carolina to NCAA berths in 2004-05 and 2008-09 (plus two trips to the WNIT).

In 29 full seasons as a Division I head coach, assistant coach or player, Harper has made 24 postseason appearances with a combined 641-313 record, 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and seven WNIT bids.

She recorded a 118-79 won-lost record at Missouri State, claiming Missouri Valley Conference Tournament crowns in 2016 and 2019 and notching regular-season runner-up finishes in 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19. After her first team at MSU finished 14-17/6-12 MVC (t6th), she never placed lower than third in the league standings or missed the postseason. Three of her last four editions there surpassed the 20-win plateau, including the 2015-16 squad that forged MSU’s first NCAA appearance in a decade.

The 2018-19 MSU squad improved measurably as the season progressed, resiliently overcoming a 1-7 start to post the program’s best overall record (25-10) since 2004-05 and its top league mark (16-2) since 2003-04 with a 24-3 run over the final 27 contests. The Lady Bears finished No. 24 in the final 2019 USA Today Sports Coaches Poll, which was their first national ranking in 15 years. Harper was named the Missouri Valley Coach of the Year and also was chosen as the 2019 Kay Yow Coach of the Year, which goes to the Division I women’s head coach who embodies a winning spirit while displaying great character, on and off the court.

Her final Lady Bears team developed into her best one with a late season spree that included victories over No. 21 Drake, No. 24 DePaul and No. 13 Iowa State and a nine-point loss to sixth-ranked Stanford in the Sweet 16. Harper’s 2018-19 squad featured only one senior and included 11 freshmen or sophom*ores on the 14-player roster.

Prior to her arrival at Missouri State, Harper became just the third women’s basketball coach in North Carolina State history in 2009 and directed the Wolfpack to three postseason appearances and a 70-64 record during her four-year stint at the helm, including the 2010 NCAA Tournament. NC State joined Tobacco Road rivals Duke and North Carolina as the only Atlantic Coast Conference teams to score wins over the league’s other 11 teams during that span and earned six top-25 victories in four seasons.

Before her tenure in Raleigh, Harper piloted Western Carolina to a 97-65 record and four postseason berths in five seasons, including a 70-31 mark her final three years in Cullowhee. The Catamounts captured the first two Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament titles in school history while seven student-athletes captured all-conference honors during her tenure.

She earned 2007 SoCon Coach of the Year accolades and placed her squads in the WBCA Academic Top 25 on three occasions, including a fifth-place finish in 2007-08.

Prior to her first head coaching job, Harper spent three seasons as an assistant at Chattanooga, helping the Mocs to three consecutive Southern Conference championships, three NCAA appearances and a combined 78-15 record under head coach Wes Moore. She tutored four all-conference guards while at Chattanooga, including the 2004 league player of the year.

In advance of her time in Chattanooga, Harper spent two seasons at Auburn, the first as an administrative assistant before being promoted to assistant coach under Joe Ciampi for the 2000-01 campaign.

As a college player, Harper was part of a women’s basketball dynasty at Tennessee. As a junior, she guided the Lady Vols to a 39-0 record and their third-straight national championship, averaging 7.6 points and 3.8 assists for the season and scoring a career-high 20 points in the national title game against Louisiana Tech. She went 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in that contest and was named to the 1998 All-Final Four Team.

Harper set an NCAA championship game record with 11 assists and dished out 20 helpers in two games for All-Final Four honors in 1997 after returning from a knee injury midway through her sophom*ore season. That year, the National Strength and Conditioning Association named her its Strength and Conditioning Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

For her Tennessee career, Harper scored 894 points and had 452 assists, leaving UT on the school’s career top 10 lists for assists, assist average, 3-point attempts and 3-point percentage. She still ranks eighth in career assists and is 11th in 3-point percentage (.364, 99-272).

Harper was drafted by the Cleveland Rockers in the fourth round of the 1999 WNBA draft and earned her degree in mathematics that same year. She was a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and earned both All-SEC Coaches Second Team and honorable mention All-America honors as a senior. She also was named to the SEC Community Service Team as a senior.

She played for her father (the late Kenneth Jolly), an assistant coach at White County High School in Sparta, Tenn., and was a five-time All-American during her AAU playing career. She was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009 and White County High Hall of Fame in 2012. On Dec. 24, 2019, the basketball hardwood at the new Findlay Elementary School in Sparta was dedicated as “Kellie’s Court.”

Harper is married to Jon Harper, an assistant coach on her staffs at Western Carolina, NC State, Missouri State and Tennessee. The Harpers welcomed their first child, son Jackson, in November 2013, and had a daughter, Kiley, in June 2018.