Thanks to a great source for getting us out in front of this one yesterday…

Portland State Director of Athletics Mark Rountree has announced the hiring of Lynn Kennedy as the new Vikings women’s basketball coach.

Kennedy comes to Portland State with 14 years experience as a collegiate head coach and more than 20 years coaching experience overall. For the past 10 seasons, he has led the Southern Oregon women’s basketball program to outstanding success. The Raiders were 27-5 this past season, ranked in the top 10 in the nation and reached the NAIA Division II Sweet 16. In all, Kennedy was 208-105 as head coach at Southern Oregon, leading three teams to the NAIA National Tournament.

In all, Kennedy’s Raider program had five 20-win seasons, including each of the last two. Kennedy’s players have earned 22 All-Conference honors, four All-American honors and eight Academic All-American honors.

This past season, Southern Oregon led the Cascade Collegiate Conference in eight statistical categories, including scoring, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and rebounding.

"We are thrilled that Lynn Kennedy will be joining the PSU family to lead our Women’s Basketball program," said Rountree. "Lynn has a proven track record of success having developed two different college programs into consistent winners. He is committed to the academic success of our student-athletes, and I know he will do great things for Portland State."

"I would like to thank President Wiewel, Mark Rountree and the search committee for this opportunity," said Kennedy. "Portland State is the perfect fit for our family and I am extremely excited about the opportunity in leading the women’s basketball program. Throughout the process, I was impressed with the support, passion and energy of the campus community and athletic administration. It is evident that they want women’s basketball to be successful. It is a great time to be a Viking."

Kennedy will be charged with turning around a Viking women’s basketball program that has struggled in recent seasons. Program transformation is one thing that Kennedy has proven he can do, succeeding at both New Mexico Highlands and Southern Oregon.

The head coach at NCAA II New Mexico Highlands from 2002-05, Kennedy took a team that had won only four games the season before his arrival and within three seasons led it to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Western Division title.

The Southern Oregon Raiders were 4-25 the year before Kennedy took over the women’s basketball program at the Ashland, OR school. The following season they won 12 games, followed by 18 in 2006-07, then a school-record 29-5 mark in 2007-08.

PSU had won the Big Sky Conference regular season championship as recently as 2010-11. The Vikings made appearances in the WNIT in 2008-09 and 2010-11, with their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10. But the win totals have dropped in the past four years from 15 to 12 to eight and then four.

"I believe Coach Kennedy is the right person to re-establish Portland State as one of the top programs in the Big Sky," said Rountree. "He has strong recruiting ties in the state, and plays a fast-paced, up-tempo style. Our student-athletes will enjoy playing that way and I know our fans will enjoy watching."

Kennedy has coaching experience in the Big Sky Conference as well. He was an assistant coach at Eastern Washington (1999-2001) and Idaho State (2001-02). Kennedy was named the interim Head Coach at Idaho State for the final seven games of that season.

His coaching career began as an assistant at Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. He was the head coach for one season (1998-99) before moving on to Eastern Washington.

Kennedy is a native of Eugene, OR. He prepped at Cascade High School in Everett, WA, then played collegiately at Northwest Christian College and Northwest University. Lynn and his wife, Amy, have two sons, Graycen and Parker.

"Leaving Southern Oregon and the Ashland community was not an easy decision for my family,"Kennedy said. "I want to thank all the players that help build the SOU program the last 10 years. We have developed lifetime friends."