Memphis is getting a new women’s basketball coach.
The Tigers announced Monday, March 9, that they had fired coach Alex Simmons after three seasons. The Tigers went 4-14 in American Conference play this season and missed the conference tournament.
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“Following a comprehensive evaluation of our women’s basketball program, we believe this is the right time for a leadership change,” Memphis athletic director Ed Scott said in a statement. “We remain committed to building a program that competes at the highest level of our conference and reflects the pride and passion of the University of Memphis community. We have made meaningful investments in women’s basketball and are grateful for the strong support from our fans and donors.”
Scott said that Shalon Pillow will oversee the program while it conducts its head coaching search. She was previously the head coach at Florida A&M and was named chief-of-staff of the women’s basketball program at Memphis last June.
Simmons, 39, went 30-61 overall in three seasons at Memphis. She was previously the head coach at Gardner-Webb where she had four winning seasons in five years and guided the Runnin’ Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time ever in 2023.
She parlayed that success into the job at Memphis where she succeeded Katrina Merriweather, who left the Tigers after just two seasons to return to coach at Cincinnati, her alma mater. Simmons couldn’t recreate the success she had at Gardner-Webb, or build off the 22-11 season Merriweather had in her final year there.
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Before becoming a head coach, Simmons was an assistant at Ole Miss, MTSU and Kansas. She played at Tennessee for Pat Summitt and was a key reserve player for the Lady Vols teams led by Candace Parker that won back-to-back national titles in 2007 and 2008.
Making matters worse for Simmons and Memphis this season, junior forward Paris Gaines was arrested on March 2 and charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault after allegedly attacking a woman and threatening her with a gun, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
On Saturday, after a win over Wichita State, Simmons was asked about her future at Memphis.
“Memphis is a place that not many people wanted to come to, but Alex Simmons did,” she said, referring to herself in third-person. “Memphis is not a place that many people want to stay, but Alex Simmons does.”
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While Memphis has adapted to the new realities of the current college landscape and spent the money to be competitive in football and men’s basketball, that hasn’t been the case for women’s basketball. The Tigers also have little-to-no history of success in women’s hoops, as they haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since the late Joye Lee-McNelis guided them to four straight March Madness appearances between 1995 and 1998. Memphis hasn’t been to a Sweet 16 since 1982, the first year the NCAA held a national tournament for the sport.
As Memphis athletic director Ed Scott interviews candidates, the question they will ask him is, what does the funding and resources look like?
Here’s a few names Scott might consider:
Nina Davis, Middle Tennessee State assistant coach
A Memphis native who has her number retired at Central High School, Davis has been mentored by two Hall of Fame coaches in Kim Mulkey and Rick Insell. After a decorated career as a player for Mulkey at Baylor where she was a two-time All-American and the Big 12 Player of the Year, Davis spent some time in broadcasting and then pivoted her post-playing career to coaching several years ago. She has helped Insell’s MTSU reach three NCAA Tournaments and one of those trips included a first-round upset of Louisville. Davis often works with post players at MTSU, developing a handful of players into all-conference talents, including Anastasiia Boldyreva who led the nation in blocks last season. She was also named to the WBCA’s 30 under 30 list in 2023, which highlights rising coaching stars.
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Gabe Lazo, Tennessee assistant coach
The Tennessee assistant is well known as one of the sport’s top recruiters, but it should also be mentioned that Lazo has a strong reputation in scouting and X’s and O’s. In the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell gave Lazo – then an assistant for the Bulldogs – much of the credit for preparing the team in their upset of No. 6 Creighton. Purcell added that Lazo’s “work ethic is unmatched” and he’s an “elite” player developer. Lazo left Mississippi State in 2024 to join Kim Caldwell’s staff at Tennessee where he has helped the Lady Vols sign multiple McDonald’s All-Americans and talented transfers. Lazo’s coaching career goes back to the high school and AAU ranks in his native Florida, where he was a three-time coach of the year. Given Lazo’s experience as an assistant coach in the states of Tennessee and Mississippi, and his wide recruiting connections, he could be a fit here.
Kim Rosamond, Tennessee Tech head coach
A Mississippi native who has spent the last 23 years of her coaching career in the state of Tennessee, Rosamond seems like a natural fit for a job like Memphis. In 10 years leading Tennessee Tech, she’s had a winning record in eight consecutive seasons and has taken the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Tournament in two of the last four years. Prior to taking the reins at Tennessee Tech – where she was the OVC Coach of the Year in 2019 – she was an assistant at Vanderbilt, MTSU and Ole Miss. At Vanderbilt, Rosamond was on staffs that helped the Commodores go to seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Rosamond also played at Ole Miss for Van Chancellor in the 1990s.
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Other names to watch: Morehead State head coach Ashton Feldhaus, Arkansas State head coach Destinee Rogers, Kentucky assistant coach Josh Petersen, Alabama A&M head coach Dawn Thornton, Norfolk State head coach Jermaine Woods, FIU head coach Jes Burks Wiley, Virginia assistant coach Ronald Hughey
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Candidates for Memphis women’s basketball coach opening
