Mickie DeMoss

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Mickie Faye DeMoss (born October 3, 1955 in Delhi, Louisiana) is an American basketball coach, currently the women's head coach at the University of Kentucky.

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[edit] Early years

After a standout high school career, she went to Louisiana Tech University, where she started at point guard for her final three years. Immediately after her graduation with a physical education degree in 1977, she began her coaching career as an assistant at Memphis State (now Memphis). In 1979, she became the first full-time women's basketball coach in the history of the University of Florida. After four seasons and a 45-68 record, she left to become an assistant at Auburn University under Joe Ciampi. In both of her seasons at Auburn, they made the NCAA Tournament. More importantly for the direction of her career, she established herself as a top-notch recruiter. In the four seasons (1985-1989) after she left Auburn, players she helped recruit gave the Lady Tigers a 119-13 record and went to two Final Fours.

[edit] Tennessee

In 1985, DeMoss was hired by the legendary Pat Summitt to be her top assistant at the University of Tennessee. During her 18 seasons in Knoxville, the Lady Vols went to 13 Final Fours and won six NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championships. As at Auburn, she played a key role as a recruiter, this time as the official recruiting coordinator.

[edit] Kentucky

After a long apprenticeship, she finally returned to the head coaching ranks in 2003, taking on the considerable challenge of the Kentucky job. The Wildcats had fallen off considerably from their glory years of the early 1980s, when the then-LadyKats were regularly competing for Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors. In the two years before she came to Lexington, the Wildcats had won a total of 20 games. The Wildcats had averaged little over 1,000 in per-game attendance.

As one could infer from her past, her first priority upon arriving at Kentucky was recruiting; her first class there was widely considered to be one of the top 10 in the nation that year. Season ticket sales immediately went up to over 3,000, and the Wildcats led the nation in increased attendance that season, averaging nearly 5,200. Despite an 11-17 record in 2003-04, the team showed marked improvement, reducing their average margin of defeat in SEC play by nearly 9 points.

The following season saw the Wildcats go 18-16, compiling their first winning season since 1999-2000. More importantly, they made a strong run in the 2005 Women's National Invitation Tournament, losing to West Virginia in the semifinals in double overtime.

DeMoss' breakthrough season with Kentucky proved to be the 2005-06 season. They entered her third season with one of the youngest teams in women's college basketball, with only one senior on the roster and nine freshmen and sophomores. They ended it with the most conference wins in school history (nine), including a landmark 66-63 win over then top-ranked Tennessee at Rupp Arena on January 26, 2006, and their highest conference finish (fourth) since the women's program's glory years of the 1980s. In the wake of this win, they entered the national rankings for the first time since 1993. The Wildcats also made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years, winning in the first round against Chattanooga before losing in the next round to Michigan State. After the season, she was named SEC Coach of the Year by both her fellow coaches and the Associated Press. Her record at Kentucky at the end of the season was 51-42.

The Wildcats, returning all five starters, were ranked 15th in the 2006-07 AP preseason poll, the first preseason ranking for Kentucky in the history of the AP women's poll.


[edit] Trivia

According to an article in the December 15, 2006 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader, DeMoss currently lives in the Gardens of Hartland subdivision in southern Lexington, Kentucky, and that she won the "Showcase Showdown" segment as a contestant in the TV game show The Price Is Right during the mid-1980s.


[edit] External links

Current Head Women's Basketball Coaches of the Southeastern Conference

Melanie Balcomb (Vanderbilt) | Bob Starkey (interim) (LSU) | Mickie DeMoss (Kentucky) | Sharon Fanning (Mississippi State) | Nell Fortner (Auburn) | Susie Gardner (Arkansas) | Andy Landers (Georgia) | Carolyn Peck (Florida) | Carol Ross (Ole Miss) | Stephany Smith (Alabama) | Pat Summitt (Tennessee) | Susan Walvius (South Carolina) |
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