The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Kamie Ethridge named to Team USA U-18 coaching staff
03.08.2016 | Women's Basketball
Ethridge was a standout University of Texas women’s basketball player from 1982-86
AUSTIN, Texas – Kamie Ethridge, a standout University of Texas women's basketball player from 1982-86, on Tuesday was named an assistant coach for the 2016 USA Basketball Women's U18 National Team, as selected by the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team Committee.
Ethridge, currently the head coach at the University of Northern Colorado, will serve as an assistant under University of Pittsburgh head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio and alongside fellow assistant Charlotte Smith, the head coach at Elon University.
The 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship will take place July 13-17 in Valdivia, Chile, where the top four finishing teams will earn a berth into the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championship.
"It is a tremendous honor to be selected as an assistant coach to USA Basketball's U18 Team," Ethridge said. "As a player, my proudest moments and achievements came while wearing the USA uniform and representing my country in USA Basketball competitions. I am extremely proud and appreciative to be a part of the USA Basketball U18 coaching staff and look forward to representing America in Chile."
A Lubbock, Texas, native, Ethridge was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Texas Women's Athletics Hall of Honor inaugural class in 2000. In 1986, Ethridge was the recipient of the Honda Award for basketball and was the overall Hondra-Broderick Cup winner across all sports. She claimed the 1986 Wade Trophy, awarded to the best women's basketball player in the country. Additionally, she garnered the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, which recognizes the most outstanding NCAA Division I female basketball player under 5-foot-8.
Ethridge led the Longhorns in assists for three consecutive seasons (1984-86) and in steals for two seasons (1983-84, 1985-86). She is the University of Texas' all-time career leader in assists with 776. Ethridge was a senior in 1985-86 when the Longhorns went 34-0 and won the 1986 NCAA Championship, becoming the first women's basketball program in history to record an undefeated season.
Ethridge, a two-time All-American, won an Olympic gold medal with the United States at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Ethridge earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from UT in 1987, spending her final year on the Forty Acres as a student assistant coach. She was then a graduate assistant and assistant coach at Northern Illinois from 1989-91 and then spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, helping the Commodores to two Southeastern Conference Tournament titles, five NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances and an appearance in the 1993 NCAA Final Four.
Ethridge then spent 18 seasons as an associate head coach at Kansas State (1996-2014), most recently as associate head coach. She helped lead the Wildcats to a record of 350-226 during that span, as Kansas State advanced to nine NCAA Tournaments, six Sweet Sixteens and four Women's National Invitation Tournament appearances. The Wildcats won two Big 12 Championship titles during her time in Manhattan and claimed the 2006 WNIT Championship.
Ethridge was named the head coach at the University of Northern Colorado on April 28, 2014. In her first year there in 2014-15, she led the Bears to a 22-13 record, which was a program high for wins, and her team advanced to the third round of the WNIT.
Ethridge also served a four-year term on the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team Committee, which selected college-aged teams, such as the World University Games, Pan American Games and Jones Cup teams. In the summer of 1999, she was invited to lead a point guard camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for current, past and prospective USA Basketball talent.
