Donchez Graham has coached more than two decades for women’s basketball programs at Delaware State, Morgan State, College of Charleston and West Virigina, and now he’ll join the staff at Indiana State.
On Wednesday, Graham was announced as the new associate head coach under Marc Mitchell at ISU.
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Graham fills the position vacated by former Sycamore assistant Jason Pruitt, who took the associate head coaching spot at Seattle University.
Mitchell’s staff for the upcoming 2026-27 season now includes Graham and second-year assistants Kietta Saunders, who also serves as director of player development, and Mollie Williams. ISU finished last season with records of 10-22 overall and 5-15 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The staff also includes second-year graduate assistant Tyranny Brown and first-year graduate assistant Rebekah Atilano.
Graham was at Delaware State for the 2025-26 season, where he helped the Hornets to a three-win improvement in conference play, finishing 4-10 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and a two-win improvement overall to close at 7-23. Delaware State’s scoring defense with Graham on staff improved by nearly seven points per game compared to the previous season, while the Hornets’ scoring margin improved by eight points.
Prior to spending the 2025-26 season at Delaware State, Graham spent nine seasons on the staff at Morgan State, first as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and later as associate head coach from 2021-25. The eight-year tenure was his second stint with the Lady Bears, where he also coached from 2005-09. Morgan State won 120 games with Graham on staff from 2016-25, including a WNIT appearance in 2022, while finishing in the top three of the MEAC on four occasions. The Lady Bears claimed a share of the MEAC regular season title in 2022, the first in program history.
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“I’ve known Donchez to be a hard-working coach with integrity,” Mitchell said in an ISU sports information release. “He has a history of working with forwards and getting them to play at a high level. Indiana State Women’s Basketball is getting a coach who is dedicated to growing the women’s game.”
Graham spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the College of Charleston, helping lead the Cougars to 35 wins and a pair of postseason appearances in the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Charleston won three postseason games across their two WBI appearances in Graham’s tenure, reaching the semifinals in 2014.
Graham was assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at West Virginia for the 2009-10 season, helping the Mountaineers sign a top-50 recruiting class in his lone season in Morgantown. West Virginia went 29-6 during Graham’s tenure on staff, finishing second in the Big East and reaching the conference championship game while reaching as high as No. 7 nationally in the AP Poll. The Mountaineers also secured an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, where they reached the second round.
During his first stint at Morgan State, Graham helped lead the Lady Bears to 58 victories in four seasons. Morgan State set a program Division I single-season record with 19 wins and reached the WNIT in 2008, the program’s first postseason invitation.
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Prior to coming to Morgan State for the 2005-06 campaign, Graham spent three years as the head coach at Western High School. While at Western, he guided the team to a 46-6 record, a city title, two regional titles and two state final four appearances. His squads ended the season ranked in the top five by The Baltimore Sun on three occasions. He had a team GPA of 3.25 and a graduation rate of 100 percent.
Graham also served four years as assistant coach at Dunbar High prior to his stint at Western, where the Poets tallied a 101-8 mark and were three-time Maryland State Class 2A/1A champions. Graham also has experience on the AAU circuit, guiding multiple Baltimore-area teams to national tournament appearances.
Graham obtained his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Morgan State in 1991, and earned his master’s degree in school improvement leadership from Goucher in 2003.
