Kathryn Ann Gearlds (born October 26, 1984) is an American

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

coach and former

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, who is the current head coach of the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

. She is also the former women's basketball head coach of the

Marian Knights Marian University is a private Roman Catholic university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1851 by the Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, Indiana, the college moved to Indianapolis in 1937. Marian was referred to as Marian College from 19 ...

. She played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

for coaches Kristy Curry and

Sharon Versyp Sharon Versyp (born December 3, 1965) is an American former basketball player who is the head coach of the University of South Carolina Beaufort women's basketball team and the former head coach of the Purdue University women's basketball team f ...

from 2003 to 2007 and played in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) for three seasons from 2007 to 2009.

High school

Gearlds was born in

Beech Grove, Indiana Beech Grove is a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population is 14,192. The city is located within the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Beech Grove is designated an "excluded city" under Indiana la ...

and attended

Beech Grove High School Beech Grove High School is a public high school in Beech Grove, Indiana, United States. About Beech Grove High School is part of the Beech Grove City Schools. The school currently enrolls students from grades 9 through 12. The school is opera ...

. In her four years, she compiled 2,521 career points, which ranked her fourth in Indiana history. She won numerous awards in her high school career, including being named

Miss Basketball Miss Basketball or Ms. Basketball is an award given to the best high school girls basketball player in many U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political uni ...

in 2003, after leading the Hornets to the 3A State Championship. Gearlds was also named a WBCA All-American, and participated in the 2003 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored ten points. She was the MVP of the 2003

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

College

Gearlds went on to star at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2004. In her four years as a Boilermaker, she compiled 14.8 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game, and 3.0 assists per game. The team had a 103–30 record during her tenure. She earned the Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2007 after Purdue defeated

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in the Big Ten championship game. She also won both the women's and overall State Farm College Three Point Championships on March 29, 2007, defeating male competitor and future NBA starter Aaron Brooks 17 to 16. She graduated from Purdue in 2007 with a

bachelor of science degree A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

with a minor in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and communications.

Purdue statistics

Source

WNBA and overseas career

On April 4, 2007, Gearlds was selected by the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

with the seventh overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft. In her rookie campaign, Gearlds appeared in 33 games for the Storm. She averaged 4.0 points per game, 1.6 rebounds per game, and 1.5 assists per game. She only played two more WNBA seasons (all with Seattle), appearing in 87 total games and averaging 4.4 points per game. However, Gearlds playing career continued overseas. She spent two seasons (2011–12) in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

as a professional player, and she also spent three years (2008–10) in Greece where she played and served as an assistant coach. She also spent some of 2007 in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

as a player. In early 2013, she spent the year playing in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and averaged 14.3 points per game for Alges where she was part of the league and cup championship teams.

Coaching career

On July 16, 2013, Gearlds was named the head coach of the women's basketball team at Marian University. In just her second season, Gearlds led the Knights to a 28–6 record, earning the program's second-ever NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament berth, and first Crossroads League title. In her third season, she led the Knights to a record of 32–6 (.842) and won the 2016 National title, the first in program history. The Knights repeated as National Champions in 2017, winning their final 23 games to finish with a school-record 35 wins. On March 26, 2021; Purdue announced the 2021–2022 season will be the last year of the "Versyp Era" at Purdue, Gearlds joining the Boilermaker staff and then succeeding Sharon Versyp as the head coach in the Spring of 2022. The ''

Journal & Courier The Lafayette ''Journal & Courier'' is a daily newspaper owned by Gannett, serving Lafayette, Indiana, and the surrounding communities. It was established in 1920 through the merger of two local papers, the ''Journal and Free Press'' (establish ...

'' reported on August 18, 2021 that Purdue University was investigating allegations that Versyp created a “toxic and hostile environment,” including verbally attacking players and bullying a member of her coaching staff. It was announced on September 16, 2021 that Versyp would be retiring and replaced by Gearlds a year earlier than originally planned.

Head coaching record

External links

WNBA profileMarian University press release

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gearlds, Katie 1984 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana Forwards (basketball) Marian Knights women's basketball coaches McDonald's High School All-Americans Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) People from Beech Grove, Indiana Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball players Seattle Storm draft picks Seattle Storm players