Linda Marlene Stollings (born January 7, 1975) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently women's basketball head coach at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. Stollings played college basketball at

Ohio State University 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 publ ...

and

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

. After serving as an assistant coach at various colleges from 2000 to 2011 and briefly as interim head coach at

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

in 2003, Stollings was head coach at Winthrop from 2011 to 2012, VCU from 2012 to 2014,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

from 2014 to 2018, and Texas Tech from 2018 to 2020. Stollings led Winthrop to a winning record in her single season at the school and VCU to the 2014 WNIT. Additionally, Stollings twice took Minnesota to the NCAA Tournament, in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. In two seasons at Texas Tech, Stollings inherited a losing program and achieved a winning record in her second season of 2019–20. However, months after that season, Stollings was fired following a ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' story that revealed allegations of abusive treatment of players.

Early life and playing career

Stollings grew up in

Beaver, Ohio Beaver is a village in Pike County, Ohio, United States. The population was 442 at the 2020 census. The village most likely was named after nearby Beaver Creek. Gallery File:BeaverOH1.JPG, Beaver corporation limit sign. File:BeaverOH2.JPG, Lo ...

, where she attended Eastern High School. As of 2017, her career point total of 3,514 is the high school basketball career scoring record in Ohio, ahead of

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

's 2,657. As a senior in 1992–93, Stollings was a

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

All-American. From 1993 to 1995, Stollings played college basketball at

under head coach Nancy Darsch. At

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

, Stollings averaged 6.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in her first season in 1993–94. The following season in 1994–95, Stollings averaged 5.4 points and 1.2 rebounds. In 1995, Stollings transferred to

, where she played for the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

from 1996 to 1998 under head coach Marsha Reall. In her debut season with Ohio in 1996–97, Stollings averaged 10.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. As a senior on the 1997–98 team, which went 17–11 (13–5

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

), Stollings was Ohio's leading scorer with 22.9 points per game, in addition to 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Stollings was a Kodak honorable mention All-American in 1998 and graduated from Ohio University that year as a double major with a

B.B.A. Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

in marketing and

B.S. 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 ...

in sport industry. After graduating from college, Stollings played professional basketball for two years, first for Club ABB Baden in Switzerland in 1998–99. Then in 1999, Stollings was invited to the training camp of the WNBA team

Utah Starzz Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its we ...

. In 2001, Stollings played for the

Mobile Majesty The Mobile Majesty were one of the original franchises of the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL). Based in Mobile, Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgo ...

of the

National Women's Basketball League The National Women's Basketball League, often abbreviated to the NWBL, was an organization governing professional basketball leagues for women in the United States. The league was founded in 1997 and began play in the Fall of that year. The league ...

Coaching career

Assistant coach (2000–2011)

Stollings began her college coaching career as an assistant coach at

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College u ...

in the 2000–01 season. In 2001, Stollings began the first of two seasons as an assistant coach at

under Nikita Lowry Dawkins, who was then named Nikita Lowry. Early in 2003, New Mexico State fired Lowry following an internal investigation that found that Lowry was physically and verbally abusive towards players. From December 20, 2002, until resigning on February 5, 2003, Stollings was interim head coach, during which she went 9–3. Eventually, New Mexico State won the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

West Division title. On July 9, 2003,

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

hired Stollings as an assistant coach for the

Wright State Raiders women's basketball The Wright State Raiders team is the NCAA Division 1 basketball team that represents Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League. The Raiders are currently coached by Kari Hoffman. The Raide ...

program on the staff of head coach Bridgett Williams. Stollings coached for one season at Wright State. From 2005 to 2007, Stollings was an assistant coach at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

under Shimmy Gray-Miller. Stollings was then an assistant coach under Renee Ladner at Ole Miss from 2007 to 2011 and was associate head coach in the 2010–11 season. Stollings helped sign a highly ranked 2009 recruiting class that included Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year Valencia McFarland.

Winthrop (2011–2012)

In the 2011–12 season, Stollings had her first head coaching job at Winthrop, where Winthrop went 18–13, only the program's second winning season in 26 years and the most total wins by any first-year Winthrop head coach. As a result, Stollings won

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

Coach of the Year honors in women's basketball.

VCU (2012–2014)

From 2012 to 2014, Stollings was head coach at VCU. After an 11–19 debut season in 2012–13, Stollings doubled the win total in 2013–14 to 22–10 with an appearance in the

2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament The 2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 64 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2014 Women's NCAA tournament. The annual tournament began on March 19 and ended on Apri ...

for the sixth 20-win season in program history.

Minnesota (2014–2018)

The

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

hired Stollings to be

Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to i ...

head coach on April 7, 2014. Minnesota went 23–10 (11–7

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

) in Stollings's first season and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. The 2014–15 team featured two

2015 WNBA draft The 2015 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2015 WNBA season. The Seattle Storm picked first. This year's draft was unusual in that two players with remaining college eligibility declared for the draft—Jewell Loyd of Notre Dame, who h ...

picks in Big Ten Player of the Year

Amanda Zahui B. Amanda Zahui Bazoukou (born September 8, 1993), known professionally as Amanda Zahui B., is a Swedish basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). After playing basketball both in Sweden and c ...

(second overall) and Shae Kelley (35th). In 2015–16, Minnesota went 20–12 (11–7 Big Ten) and qualified for the second round of the WNIT. Minnesota dropped to 15–16 in 2016–17, during which Stollings reached her 100th career coaching win, but improved to 24–9 (11–5 Big Ten) with a second round NCAA tournament appearance in 2017–18. Stollings finished 82–47 in four seasons at Minnesota.

Texas Tech (2018–2020)

hired Stollings as

Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball The Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball team represents Texas Tech University and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. History The 1975–76 season saw the debut of women's basketball at Texas Tech University. In 1993, the tea ...

head coach on April 9, 2018. Inheriting a team that went 7–23, Stollings led Texas Tech to a 14–17 record in 2018–19. Following an 11–0 start, Texas Tech went 18–11 (7–11

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

) record in 2019–20, a season that had the Big 12 Tournament and postseason play canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. ''

'' revealed in a story published on August 5, 2020, that 12 players left Texas Tech since Stollings became head coach in 2018 over accusations that Stollings and her staff were verbally abusive and subject players to dangerous forms of conditioning, for instance a requirement for players to have a 90 percent

heart rate Heart rate (or pulse rate) is the frequency of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm). The heart rate can vary according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and excr ...

in practice and games. The day after that story was published, Texas Tech fired Stollings for cause. Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt verbally heard findings on June 29 from an internal investigation into Stollings but took over a month to take disciplinary action, for which Hocutt said on August 7: "Have we let these girls down? We have," and "While we were aware of the concerns the young women brought forward after the first season, we were not aware of the magnitude to which they had occurred or to the magnitude to which it’d affected the young women in our locker room."

Head coaching record

References

External links