Marshall women’s basketball head coach Tony Kemper announced the hiring of Sydnei McCaskill as an assistant coach on Monday.
“Sydnei is an important addition to our staff,” coach Kemper said. “She has a tremendous positive energy that will shine through in her relationships with student-athletes and recruits. She brings playing and coaching experience form the highest level of women’s college basketball which will help our team continue to improve. We are excited to welcome her to Marshall Women’s Basketball.”
McCaskill joins the Thundering Herd after four years on staff at Florida Gulf Coast where she served as video coordinator, Director of Basketball Operations and Interim Assistant Coach. McCaskill filled all three roles in 2021-22.
“I want to first thank everyone at FGCU for growing me as a player and now a coach,” McCaskill said. “Especially (head) coach (Karl) Smesko, who has had such an impact in mentoring and teaching me over the past seven years.
“I am very grateful for this opportunity to be joining coach Kemper and the entire coaching staff at Marshall University. I look forward to becoming a part of such a great program.”
After McCaskill starred at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, she began her collegiate playing career at Georgia in 2013-14. She became just the second player in Lady Bulldog history to start and play every minute of her first collegiate appearance, coming in the opener against Presbyterian.
McCaskill then transferred to Florida Gulf Coast mid-year during the 2014-15 season to begin her journey with the Eagles. After sitting out for a year due to NCAA transfer rules at the time, McCaskill appeared in 23 games in the spring of 2016. She put up 16 points in a win over St. Thomas. She played in 23 games as a senior in 2016-17 and recorded 35 assists. McCaskill tallied a career-best nine assists in a game against Lipscomb. While with FGCU, she was a member of the 2015-16 WNIT runner-up campaign and then in the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17.
McCaskill got her post-playing career start in collegiate athletics in September of 2018 after being hired at FGCU as the video coordinator. She handled all video operations for the team including all film exchange and helping to break down pre- and post-game film to help understand strategies and adjustments.
Following her first season on staff, McCaskill was promoted to Director of Basketball Operations. She was now responsible for coordinating all team travel, managing the team financial budget to ensure the program was staying withing budget guidelines, and organized multiple team community service events throughout the season.
In 2021-22, McCaskill showed her versatility as the team did not have a video coordinator and one of the assistant coaches went on maternity leave. McCaskill gained on-court coaching experience as the interim assistant and played scout team while prepping the squad for opponents. She picked back up with her former video duties, all while still handling everything as the director of operations.
The Eagles finished the 2021-22 season with a 30-3 record. FGCU won the Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship with a 69-54 victory over Jacksonville State and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed. The Eagles opened the tournament with an upset over 16th-ranked, and No. 5 seed, Virginia Tech, 84-81. The season came to an end in the second round with a loss to 13th-ranked, and No. 4 seed, Maryland.
