Kent State women’s basketball head coachTodd Starkey has signed a contract extension through the 2025-26 season,Director of Athletics Randale L. Richmond announced.
“We are thrilled to extend the contract of Coach Starkey,” Richmond said. “Todd has assembled one of the best coaching staffs in the country and is a great ambassador for our department and our university as a whole. Under his leadership, our women’s basketball program has been placed on the track for consistent sustained success and I’m confident that the best is yet to come.”
Starkey has restored the program’s rich tradition during his first five seasons, winning 82 games while leading the Golden Flashes to two Mid-American Conference East Division titles and two Postseason WNIT appearances.
“I’d like to thank President (Todd) Diacon, Director of Athletics Randale L. Richmond, Senior Deputy Athletics Director Greg Glaus and Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator Suzette McQueen for the opportunity to continue to lead the women’s basketball program at Kent State,” Starkey said. “It’s an honor to coach these young women, and I feel blessed to have such strong support from our administration. With a phenomenal staff in place, the future of this program is very bright!”
The Starkey era began with the 23-year coaching veteran orchestrating one of the nation’s largest turnarounds during the 2016-17 season. Kent State more than tripled its win total from the previous season and jumped 222 spots in the RPI rankings. The worst-to-first campaign resulted in Starkey being named MAC Coach of the Year. Larissa Lurken was one of the nation’s most-improved players, as the MAC Player of the Year set Flashes single-season records for points, scoring average and free throws made. Her 280 conversions at the charity stripe also broke the previous NCAA Division I record.
Kent State won at least 19 games in three of Starkey’s first four seasons before playing only 20 contests a year ago, finishing with an 11-9 record. The ability to adapt his team’s style of play based on its personnel from season to season has been key to Starkey’s sustained success. After leading the nation in free throws made during his first season and ranking 20th during his second season, Kent State drained a school record 241 three-point field goals in 2018-19. The Flashes sank a single-game record 16 triples in the conference opener against Ohio last December. Senior Lindsey Thall is on pace to become Kent State’s all-time leader in three-pointers this season, and currently sits second with 166.
The women’s basketball program has also excelled academically under Starkey’s leadership, setting term GPA records on multiple occasions. Kent State earned the No. 16 spot on the WBCA’s Academic Honor Roll for the 2020-21 season, boasting a 3.655 year-long team GPA. The Flashes have received 27 Academic All-MAC recognitions over the past five seasons, while Jordan Korinek and Larissa Lurken combined for three Academic All-America honors in 2017 and 2018.
The Flashes are scheduled to begin the 2021-22 season on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at Northern Kentucky. The entire starting unit, including the All-MAC trio of Nila Blackford, Katie Shumate and Lindsey Thall, and more than 97% of the team’s scoring will be back in blue and gold this winter.
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