A successful, veteran coach in NCAA women’s basketball, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has been named the 12th head women’s basketball coach in Knights’ program history. UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Danny White announced the hire Friday.

Abrahamson-Henderson comes to UCF after six seasons at Albany, where she led the Great Danes to a combined nine America East Conference tournament and regular season titles. Her Albany teams recorded five 20-win seasons en route to five-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program’s first bid in 2011 and its first NCAA Tournament victory in 2016.

“We’re proud to welcome Coach Abrahamson-Henderson and her family to UCF,” White said. “I’m confident in Katie’s ability to be a wonderful leader for our women’s basketball student-athletes. She quickly stood out as we were going through the search process. After reviewing her credentials and speaking to her, it became very clear to me that Coach Abrahamson-Henderson is the right leader at the right time for UCF women’s basketball. That feeling was further confirmed after speaking to numerous people about her. She has been a winner as a player and as a coach. We look forward to her bringing that experience to our program. “This was a quick, but thorough search,” White added. “I have the members of my executive team and our search committee to thank for that. Their expertise was crucial to helping us bring Coach Abrahamson-Henderson to Orlando.”

Albany’s first NCAA Division I All-America performer came during Abrahamson-Henderson’s tenure. Numerous Great Dane players have been recognized with America East accolades, including: four Players of the Year awards, four Defensive Players of the Year awards, one Scholar-Athlete of the Year, one Rookie of the Year, nine first-team all-conference selections, 17 total all-conference honors, 12 all-defensive team picks and five all-academic team awards.

Also known as Coach Abe, she was chosen as the America East Coach of the Year three times and guided Albany to a combined 83-13 record in league play. Moreover, Albany won 38-consecutive America East regular season contests from Feb. 1, 2012 through Feb. 26, 2014, setting a new league record and setting what was then the longest conference winning streak in all of Division I. That streak surpassed the old record of 37, set by Maine from 1995-97 under coach Joanne P. McCallie, Coach Abe’s mentor at both Maine and Michigan State.

Abrahamson-Henderson was previously the associate head coach at Indiana prior to moving to Albany and also held that title at Michigan State (2000-02). She served as Missouri State University’s head coach from 2002-07. During her coaching career, she has helped three different teams reach the NCAA Tournament and five programs reach postseason play.

Coach Abe has two decades of experience on the Division I level. She guided Missouri State’s program to three Missouri Valley Conference tournament championships, two MVC regular-season titles and three NCAA berths. The Bears, who also won the 2005 WNIT championship, posted a 95-61 record during her five seasons.

In addition, she coached a pair of MVC players of the year, 11 all-conference honorees, two of the program’s all-time leading scorers, three players who went on to professional careers, and 13 MVC scholar-athletes.

Following her stay at Missouri State, Abrahamson-Henderson worked at Washington in the Pacific-10 Conference as assistant coach and co-recruiting coordinator in 2007-08. Prior to that, she served as associate head coach for Indiana on Felisha Legette-Jack’s staff. The Hoosiers advanced to the 2009 WNIT quarterfinals and finished with a 21-11 record.

At one of her most successful stops as an assistant, Abrahamson-Henderson helped Iowa State (1994-00) clinch four-consecutive NCAA appearances, including runs to the 1999 Elite Eight and 2000 Sweet 16. The Cyclones won the Big 12 regular season and tournament title in 2000 and saw two of their own selected in the WNBA Draft that year.

An accomplished student-athlete and a Parade Magazine and USA Today High School All-American, Abrahamson-Henderson played two seasons at Georgia for Andy Landers before transferring to Iowa to compete for Basketball Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer. At Iowa, she was a member of two Big Ten Conference championship teams and played in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. As a freshman at Georgia, she helped the Bulldogs capture the 1986 Southeastern Conference title.

Following her college career, Abrahamson-Henderson played one season professionally in New Zealand.

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Abrahamson-Henderson earned a B.S. in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration from the University of Iowa. She received her master’s in education from Duquesne University in 1992.

Abrahamson-Henderson and her husband, Michael, have two daughters, Savannah and Brooklyn. Michael also had a celebrated college basketball career and eventually played for the Harlem Globetrotters. He led Long Island-C.W. Post to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and scored 1,173 career points from 1981-84.

http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/040116aab.html

Photo Courtesy UCF Athletics

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