Zenarae Tshui Chu Antoine ( née Pieters; born January 31, 1975) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the women's basketball team at

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

San Marcos San Marcos is the Spanish name of Saint Mark. It may also refer to: Towns and cities Argentina * San Marcos, Salta Colombia * San Marcos, Antioquia * San Marcos, Sucre Costa Rica * San Marcos, Costa Rica (aka San Marcos de Tarrazú) ...

, Texas. Zenarae Antoine is in her twelfth season as the head coach at Texas State and is the winningest coach in program history. In her first season, she led one of the best turnarounds in school history, taking a 9-20 team the year before, to 17-14 including the school's first conference tournament win since 2003. She has also led the team appearances in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Coach Antoine led the

Bobcats The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

to the 2022–23 Sun Belt regular season championship.

Early life and education

Zenarae Antoine was born Zenarae Tshui Chu Pieters in

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...

and raised in

Katy, Texas Katy is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Greater Katy area, itself forming the western part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Homes and businesses may have Katy postal addresses without being in the City of Katy. The city o ...

. Her father was an immigrant from

British Guyana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was ...

, and her mother is

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. Antoine graduated from

James E. Taylor High School James E. Taylor High School (THS) is a public high school in unincorporated area, unincorporated Harris County, Texas, in Greater Katy. The school, in Nottingham Country, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of Katy Independent School Distr ...

in Katy. After high school, Antoine attended Colorado State University and played basketball for the

Colorado State Rams The Colorado State Rams are the athletic teams that represent Colorado State University (CSU). Colorado State's athletic teams compete along with 8 other institutions in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and s ...

from 1994 to 1998 while completing her degree in

physical science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Phy ...

with minors in

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

and statistics. In 2000, Antoine received her master's degree in athletic administration at

Ohio University Ohio University is a 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 Confederation and subseq ...

; she also was a graduate assistant for Ohio Bobcats women's basketball in the 1999–2000 season.

Coaching career

In the 1998–99 season, Antoine was an AAU coach and semi-professional basketball player for the Southeast Ravens team in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Antoine's first full-time assistant position was in the 2000–01 season with the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

as Zenarae Pieters. Returning to Ohio University, Antoine was an assistant coach there from 2001 to 2003 going by Zena Pieters. Now going by her married name, Antoine joined the staff of new head coach Tom Collen at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

as recruiting coordinator on June 24, 2003. As the lead recruiter, Antoine put together two nationally ranked recruiting classes in her last two seasons, no. 26 in 2006 and no. 25 in 2007. Antoine then followed Collen to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

in 2007 and served four years under Collen as assistant coach.

Texas State (2011–present)

On April 18, 2011,

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

hired Antoine as women's basketball head coach. Inheriting a team that went 9–20 in 2010–11, Antoine led Texas State to a 17–14 record in its final year in the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

. Texas State moved to the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

for the 2012–13 season, during which the team went 10–20 yet won its first game against a

Big 12 Conference 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 ...

opponent since 2005, 91–80 against TCU at home. Beginning in the 2013–14 season, Texas State became a member of the Sun Belt Conference and made its first postseason appearance since 2008 in the WBI. Texas State made the WBI again in 2015 and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Head coaching record

Personal life

Since 2000, Zenarae Antoine has been married to football coach Ron Antoine, who is currently the Offensive Coordinator and teacher at Johnson High School in Buda, TX. They have three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antoine, Zenarae 1975 births Living people American sportspeople of Chinese descent American sportspeople of Guyanese descent American people of Malaysian descent Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas Texas State Bobcats women's basketball coaches Colorado State Rams women's basketball players Ohio University alumni Charleston Cougars women's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats women's basketball coaches Louisville Cardinals women's basketball coaches Arkansas Razorbacks women's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Salina, Kansas People from Katy, Texas Basketball players from Kansas Basketball players from Texas