SPRINGFIELD – Hours after the Lady Bears return from their the NCAA Sweet Sixteen trip to Chicago, a Power-Five school has reached out to Missouri State.
“The University of Tennessee has contacted me to inform me they have an interest in speaking with Coach Harper about their Women’s Head Coaching position,” Missouri State Athletics Director Kyle Moats said on Monday.
Harper played under Pat Summit at Tennessee, winning three consecutive National Titles for the Lady Vols.
This past season, Harper led the Lady Bears to a fifth straight postseason berth. Missouri State’s Sweet Sixteen game is the farthest the program has been in the NCAA Tournament since the 2001 team reached the Final Four.
Harper has led three different Division I schools to the NCAA Tournament. Western Carolina, NC State and Missouri State.
Holly Warlick was fired from Tennessee late last week. Warlick, a longtime assistant to Summitt, made the NCAA Tournament all seven years after Summitt’s retirement. However, the university hasn’t made it to the Final Four since 2007-08. Warlick took the Lady Vols to three Elite Eights.
Kellie Harper’s Missouri State resume:
| 2013-14 | Missouri State | Head Coach | 14-17 | – | |||||
| 2014-15 | Missouri State | Head Coach | 18-15 | WNIT First Round | |||||
| 2015-16 | Missouri State | Head Coach | 24-10 | NCAA First Round | |||||
| 2016-17 | Missouri State | Head Coach | 16-15 | WNIT First Round |
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| 2017-18 | Missouri State | Head Coach | 21-12 | WNIT Second Round | |||||
| 2018-19 | Missouri State | Head Coach | 25-10 | NCAA Sweet Sixteen |
