Purdue women’s basketball head coach Katie Gearlds welcomed an experienced high-level recruiter to West Lafayette with the addition of associate head coach April Phillips.
Phillips’ career has seen her serve on staffs at Texas, California, Arizona, Georgia Tech and Loyola Marymount, before spending the last three years as the head coach at San Jose State. In her career, Phillips has mentored a pair of All-America selections, nine all-conference honorees and seven all-freshman team picks.
“I am excited to bring April to Purdue,” Gearlds said. “She has been an elite recruiter and player development coach throughout her career. Her experience across the country is something that will benefit our players and this program. I’m ready for her to get here and get started with our staff.”
Phillips took over at San Jose State ahead of the 2022-23 season, inheriting a program that won a combined seven games the previous two seasons. Her highlights in northern California include the first Mountain West Tournament victory since 2020.
In 2024-25, Phillips guided the Spartans to its first road win over rival San Diego State in a decade, knocked off Xavier for the program’s first win over a Big East opponent and posted the highest non-conference and overall win total since 2018-19.
“I am truly honored and grateful for the opportunity to join Coach Katie and Purdue Women’s Basketball,” Phillips said. “Purdue is a storied institution with a rich tradition of excellence in women’s basketball. Coach Katie deeply understands and values that legacy at the highest level, which makes this a unique opportunity. I am excited to begin this new chapter and look forward to contributing to the continued success of this remarkable program.”
Prior to Phillips time at San Jose State, she helped Texas win the Big 12 Tournament Championship and reach the Elite Eight during the 2021-22 season during her lone season in Austin. She mentored Big 12 Freshman of the Year Rori Harmon.
She spent two seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at California before her time at Texas. During the 2019-20 campaign, she led the charge in helping Cal sign the No. 6 ranked recruiting class and was a part of upset wins over three top 25 teams (No. 20 Arkansas, No. 13 Arizona and No. 22 Arizona State).
During the 2018-19 season at Arizona, Phillips helped guide the Wildcats to the biggest turnaround in school history (12 more wins than the previous year), the first 11-game winning streak in program annals and to the 2019 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) championship. Along the way, she helped tutor All-Pac-12/Pac-12 All-Defensive selection Aari McDonald as well as Pac-12 All-Freshman selection Cate Reese.
Prior to her arrival in Tucson, Phillips served as the associate head coach at Loyola Marymount. As the program’s recruiting coordinator, she helped sign two of the top recruiting classes in Lions’ program history and was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) “30 Under 30” list in both 2017 and 2018. She helped bring 2018 West Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year Gabby Green into the program and played a role in developing WCC standouts Bre Alford, Jackie Johnson, Cheyanne Wallace and Sophie Taylor.
Before LMU, Phillips spent a season as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech (2014-15) and a year at New Haven (2013-14) where she helped the Chargers to their first NCAA Division II Tournament berth since 2007. Leading up to her time in Connecticut, Phillips served as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at Seton Hall, assisting Hall of Fame coach Anne Donovan with practice planning, recruiting, student-athlete welfare and day-to-day operations.
Prior to returning to the collegiate ranks, Phillips served as co-president, head trainer and coach from 2010 to 2013 at S&A Next Level Basketball, an organization that runs NCAA-certified women’s leagues in addition to various clinics and camps. She also served as the general manager of basketball operations of Sportsplus in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 2010 to 2011, where her responsibilities included marketing of basketball leagues, camps and training.
A native of Los Angeles, Phillips started her playing career at Georgia Tech, earning time in 26 games for the Yellow Jackets during the 2005-06 campaign.
Following her rookie campaign, she transferred to Xavier where she played basketball and competed in track & field. She was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Conference third team her senior season and helped Xavier to three NCAA Tournament appearances and two Atlantic 10 titles. As a senior in 2010, Phillips held lead the Musketeers to a 30-4 record and the NCAA Elite Eight, eventually losing 55-53 to No. 2 Stanford to fall just short of the first Final Four appearance in program history. Phillips also excelled in track and field, winning the 2019 Atlantic 10 Conference shot put title and also setting the school’s outdoor shot put record.
Prior to her collegiate career, Phillips was a two-time Nike All-American & Street & Smith Honorable Mention All-American as well as the nation’s sixth-best wing player according to the 2004 All-Star Girls Report while playing at Long Beach Polytechnic High School.
Phillips was a preseason camp invite with the WNBA’s New York Liberty (2010) and played professionally in Israel, Finland and Belgium.
She graduated from Xavier with a bachelor’s degree in business information systems and minors in both communication and gender & diversity studies. Phillips is currently pursuing her master’s degree in higher education from Loyola Marymount.
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