Kamie Ethridge

Mary Camille "Kamie" Ethridge (born April 21, 1964) is a former American basketball player and current basketball coach. She was an All-American point guard at the University of Texas at Austin and won a Gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She is considered one of the best women's basketball players in history and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. Ethridge is currently the head coach at Washington State University.[1]

Kamie Ethridge
Washington State Cougars
PositionHead coach
LeaguePac-12 Conference
Personal information
Born (1964-04-21) April 21, 1964
Hereford, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Listed weight122 lb (55 kg)
Career information
High schoolMonterey (Lubbock, Texas)
CollegeTexas (1982–1986)
Playing career1988–1989
PositionPoint guard
Coaching career1987–present
Career history
As player:
1988–1989OECE
As coach:
1987–1988Texas (GA)
1989–1990Northern Illinois (GA)
1990–1991Northern Illinois (assistant)
1991–1996Vanderbilt (assistant)
1996–2014Kansas State (assoc. HC)
2014–2018Northern Colorado
2018–presentWashington State
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medals
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1988 Seoul Team competition
FIBA World Championship
1986 MoscowTeam competition
World University Games
1985 Kobe Team Competition
Pan American Games
1987 Indianapolis Team competition

High school

Born in Hereford, Texas, Ethridge played guard for Monterey High School, in Lubbock, Texas. She led her team to a state championship (5A) in 1981.[2]

College

Ethridge attended the University of Texas, where she played for Hall of Fame coach Jody Conradt. The Lady Longhorns were one of the more powerful teams in the country at the time Ethridge joined the team, and she would help strengthen that position. Ethridge arrived at Texas in 1982. In her first two years, the team earned a two seed at the 1983 and the 1984 NCAA Basketball Tournament. In 1984, the team was strong enough to earn the number one ranking in the regular season final AP poll.[3] The team suffered knee injuries to five key players in 1984, including injuries to center Annette Smith so severe she was in rehabilitation for well over a year.[4] In 1985, the team would also end the season ranked number one in the poll.[5] That year, the team went 28–3 in the regular season, and looked forward to a Final Four held at their own arena, the Erwin Center. The Lady Longhorns were stunned by a buzzer beating shot by Western Kentucky, and lost 92–90 in the Mideast Regional semifinals.[4]

Despite earning lofty rankings, the team entered the 1985–86 season without having won a National Championship. Ethridge was one of six seniors, including Fran Harris, who were in their last year of college ball with one last chance for a championship. Ethridge was considered very competitive – she once competed in a triathlon, riding the 9-mile bicycle leg with a flat tire for the last three miles.[4] The team was again ranked very high, prompting Sports Illustrated to refer to their arena as "the best little scorehouse in Texas".[4]

the best little scorehouse in Texas

That year, the team entered the tournament undefeated, and won all their tournament games, finishing the season as the first undefeated NCAA Division I women's basketball team (34–0), and national champions.[2] Ethridge was the 1986 winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball[6][7] and the overall Honda-Broderick Cup winner for all sports.[8] She was also the winner of the Wade Trophy, reflecting leadership and character in addition to athletic ability.[2][9] Etheridge was the 1986 recipient of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith award, which is presented by the WBCA annually to "the nation's most outstanding NCAA Division I female basketball player who stands 5'8" tall or under".[10] While at Texas, she had 776 assists, setting a school record.[2]

On September 7, 2019, Kamie Ethridge’s number 33 was officially retired at halftime of a Texas–LSU football game and she became the first female Longhorn athlete to receive this honor.[11]

Texas statistics

Source[12]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1983 Texas 33 127 43.1% 70.2% 2.2 NA 3.8
1984 Texas 35 315 48.1% 65.4% 3.3 NA 9.0
1985 Texas 31 211 47.4% 72.1% 2.9 7.3 6.8
1986 Texas 33 172 50.4% 65.7% 2.6 6.1 5.2
Career 132 825 47.5% 67.6% 2.7 3.2 6.3

USA Basketball

Ethridge played for the USA World University Games team in Kobe, Japan in 1985. The team brought home a silver medal, after falling to the USSR. The team trailed by 18 points at one time, mounted a comeback attempt but fell short, losing 87–81.[13] The following year, Ethridge played for the USA team at the World Championships, in Moscow. This time, the USA team would meet the USSR in the title game and emerge victorious, winning the gold medal with a score of 108–88.[14]

Ethridge was a member of the gold medal winning USA team competing in the Pan American games held in Indianapolis, Indiana during August 1987, although she saw limited action due to a knee injury sustained in the first game.[15] Ethridge finished her USA basketball playing career with a gold medal win in the 1988 Olympics held in Seoul, Korea.[16]

Coaching

Ethridge was a graduate assistant at Texas in 1987–88 after completing her bachelor's degree, then played professionally in Italy for the team OECE in 1988–89.[17] Ethridge became a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois in 1989 and was promoted to assistant coach in 1990.[2][18] She then moved on to Vanderbilt and was part of the coaching staff under Jim Foster to help the team to a 1993 Final Four appearance. She then moved on to Kansas State, first as an assistant, then as associate head coach, where she helped the team become competitive.[2]

Ethridge landed her first head coaching job in 2014 at Northern Colorado,[19] and enjoyed immediate success, leading the Bears to a school-record 22 wins in her first season. She went on to lead the team to two additional 20-win seasons, capped off by a 2017–18 season that saw a school record of 26 wins, Big Sky Conference regular-season and tournament titles and the program's first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament as a Division I member.[1] At the end of the regular season, Ethridge was named the Big Sky coach of the year.[20] After the tournament appearance, she was hired away by Washington State to replace the fired June Daugherty.[1]

Awards and honors

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Northern Colorado Bears (Big Sky Conference) (2014–2018)
2014–15 Northern Colorado 22–1312–6T–3rdWNIT Third Round
2015–16 Northern Colorado 13–168–10T–8th
2016–17 Northern Colorado 22–814–43rd
2017–18 Northern Colorado 26–715–31stNCAA First Round
Northern Colorado: 83–4449–23
Washington State Cougars (Pac-12 Conference) (2018–present)
2018–19 Washington State 9–214–1410th
2019–20 Washington State 11–204–1411th
2020–21 Washington State 9–67–6
Washington State: 29–4715–34
Total:112–91 (.552)

Notes
  1. "Kamie Ethridge named women's basketball coach at Washington St". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 16, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. Porter p. 137–138
  3. "AP Poll Archive". AP Poll Archive. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  4. Cain, Joy (20 November 1985). "The Best Little Scorehouse In..." SI.com. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  5. "AP Poll Archive". AP Poll Archive. Archived from the original on January 9, 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  6. "PAST HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS FOR BASKETBALL". THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  7. "Kamie Ethridge named head coach at Washington State". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  8. "Past Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year Winners (Honda Cup)". THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  9. "The Wade Trophy". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved 30 Jun 2014.
  10. "Frances Pomeroy Naismith". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 30 Jun 2014.
  11. "Kamie Ethridge 1st women's sports jersey retired at Texas". USA Today. September 4, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  12. "Women's Basketball Finest" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
  13. "THIRTEENTH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES -- 1985". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  14. "TENTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN -- 1986". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  15. "Tenth Pan American Games -- 1987". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  16. "Games of the XXIVth Olympiad -- 1988". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
  17. Dennis, Steve (November 29, 1989). "Womens' assistant brings 'golden' act to roundball team". Northern Star. Northern Illinois University. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  18. "Kamie Ethridge". Kansas State University. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  19. "Kamie Ethridge announced as new UNC Bears women's basketball coach". The Denver Post. 2014-04-28. Retrieved 30 Apr 2014.
  20. "Northern Colorado's Kamie Ethridge Named 2018 #BigSkyWBB Coach of the Year" (Press release). Big Sky Conference. March 6, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  21. "WBHOF Inductees". WBHOF. Retrieved 3 June 2010.

References
  • David L. Porter, ed. (2005). Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30952-6.
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