The University of Pennsylvania head women’s basketball coach, Mike McLaughlin, has officially announced the promotion of Kelly Killion to Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator.
Killion has been a staple on the coaching staff since her first season under McLaughlin in 2010. In her second stint with the Quakers, she enters the upcoming season for her ninth year overall. She has overseen the success of two Ivy League championship teams, including the program’s fourth title in a six-year span in 2018-19, a squad that went 24-7 and 12-2 in league play.
“It is my honor to name Kelly Killion as the Associate Head Coach for Penn Women’s Basketball,” McLaughlin said. “Kelly demonstrates a high level of excellence not only in all aspects of our program and Penn Athletics but among the entire University of Pennsylvania Campus community as a whole. Kelly is fully invested in mentoring our student-athletes both on and off the court. She is an incredible leader, coach, and recruiter who has a unique ability to connect and build strong relationships with everyone she encounters. In my opinion, she is the best assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in all of college basketball and we are so fortunate to have her on our team here at Penn.”
In the early part of her career with Penn, she helped the Quakers to its largest single-season turnaround in program history which included the program’s first Big 5 win in six years.
She left Penn for a short period in 2012, serving as an assistant coach for Sacred Heart for a year then spending three seasons at William & Mary before moving back to Philadelphia. She has worked with both guard and post players through her career, helping several to major accolades such as Alyssa Baron (Ivy and Big 5 Rookie of the Year), Michelle Nwokedi (Ivy Player of the Year), Eleah Parker (2x Ivy Defensive Player of the Year), and most recently Kayla Padilla (Ivy Rookie of the Year).
Killion is a local product of Philadelphia, playing four years at Holy Family where she was a two-time CACC Player of the Year and was most recently inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.
