Marshall women’s basketball head coach Tony Kemper announced that assistant coaches Lazar Milinkovic and Adria Crawford have been named as recruiting coordinators.
The two helped bring in a top 60 nationally ranked recruiting class in 2019 for the Herd.
“Coach Crawford and coach Milinkovic have invested deeply in our program both with our current players and our recruiting successes,” coach Kemper said. “They have a tremendous energy level and organization for recruiting. They will work extremely well together and grind to continue to elevate our recruiting efforts. I look forward to watching them continue to grow in their new capacities.”
Milinkovic enters his fourth season with the team and also served two seasons as a graduate assistant before moving on to Morehead State for a couple years and then coming back to the Herd in the summer of 2016. Crawford just finished her first season with the team after spending four seasons at College of Charleston.
“I am very thankful and excited to have this opportunity given by Coach Kemper, and even more glad to share this new title with Coach Crawford,” Milinkovic said. “I have known Coach Kemper for a long time and have known Adria for this one year that we have worked together but it sure feels as if we have worked together for a long time. I believe we have good staff chemistry and hopefully that will continue to show results. For the past few weeks, Adria and I have started on a few projects and brainstorming how we can improve in certain areas. Cannot wait to see where it takes us as a program!”
“I am very thankful for Coach Kemper entrusting us with this opportunity,” Crawford said. “I love having the responsibility and ownership to organize recruiting and help bring in future members of The Herd.”
In 2018-19 with both on staff, Marshall was predicted to finish 13th in the Conference USA preseason polls and instead rolled out 10 league wins to secure the No. 6 seed. The Herd had an 8-win improvement from the previous year and earned a postseason berth to the WBI, just the fourth postseason berth in program history.
Marshall improved in all areas on the floor including finishing fifth in the conference in points per game (67.3) and leading C-USA in three-pointers made per game in league play (8.9). The defense took a big step forward as well, after ranking 13th in C-USA in field goal percentage allowed in 2017-18, the Herd moved up to fifth in 2018-19.
The women’s program looks to continue to build in what will be coach Kemper’s third season at the helm, and second year with Milinkovic and Crawford together on staff. The newcomers to Marshall’s squad arrive in Huntington with a great track record of achievements. Christiana McClean, Savannah Wheeler, Dazha Congleton, Alexis Johnson, Sky Thomas, Mahogany Matthews and Paige Shy join eight returners for the 2019-20 season.
Marshall tips off the season at home against Kentucky Christian on Nov. 5.
