Coastal Carolina University head women’s basketball coach Kevin Pederson has added Tatum Burstrom to his 2023-24 coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Burstrom arrives in Conway, S.C., after spending the previous seven seasons at Carson-Newman University working with the Eagles women’s basketball team. During her tenure at CNU, the Eagles averaged 22 wins in every season she was on the sidelines with the exception of 2020-21 when Carson-Newman only played 19 games going 15-4, in the COVID-19 shortened season.
“Coach Burstrom is a home run hire for our Coastal Women’s Basketball Family! She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience as a talented player and subsequently, an assistant coach, for a very successful Carson-Newman team,” said Pederson. “The first characteristic we look for when hiring staff is someone that will serve our student-athletes through a mentorship role as an assistant coach, and we believe Tatum is a person that our student athletes will love working with!”
In her time on the bench, the Lady Eagles are 155-51 overall with an 113-30 mark against the South Atlantic Conference (SAC). The program has won four regular-season championships, two SAC Tournament Championship, and one NCAA Southeast Regional Championship, while earning the first Elite Eight appearance in the program’s history. Burstrom helped guide the Lady Eagles to six NCAA tournaments, five as an assistant coach and one as a player.
With the Eagles, Burstrom had a hand in recruiting and developing five NCAA Division II All-Americans in two-time winner Haris Price (2017-18, 18-19), Mika Wester (2017-18), Kayla Marosites (2019-20), and Braelyn Wykle (2020-21). The last All-American the Lady Eagles had seen prior to that run was in 2010.
On March, 6, 2019, Burstrom was named to the WBCA’s Thirty Under 30 list honoring 30 up-and-coming women’s basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. She was one of nine coaches from the NCAA Division II ranks to be listed.
Before settling on the bench at her alma mater, Burstrom played four years where she became the 17th Lady Eagle to score 1,000 points in her career with 1,234 career points. She wrapped up her career as the program’s all-time leader with 254 career made three-pointers, which ranked fourth all-time in the SAC.
She was the fifth Lady Eagle to earn postseason honors in three seasons after being named to the SAC All-Freshman team in 2012-13, earning honorable mention All-SAC honors in 2014-15, and garnering All-SAC second team accolades in 2015-16.
“Burstrom was an all-conference guard that set the record for career three-point shooting at Carson-Newman and we have a lot of confidence that she will do a great job working with our backcourt at Coastal Carolina,” Pederson continued. “Her hard work, experience developing all-conference guards, and most importantly, her passion to see our student-athletes reach their maximum potential, make her an outstanding addition to our Coastal WBB Family!”
