COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Director of Athletics Laird Veatch announced Tuesday that Kellie Harper has been hired as the head coach of the Mizzou women’s basketball program. A proven winner with a deep-rooted history of success in high-major college basketball, Harper brings a championship pedigree at the sport’s highest level, including 16 postseason appearances in 20 seasons as a Division I head coach, including nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Harper, who becomes the fifth head coach in Mizzou program history, is a decorated leader with extensive experience in the Southeastern Conference as both a coach and student-athlete. With an established track record of recruiting and developing elite talent, Harper is one of two coaches in women’s college basketball history to guide four different programs to the NCAA Tournament.
Harper will be formally introduced at a press conference in Mizzou Arena. Further details will be announced at a later date.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Kellie Harper and her family to Mizzou,” Veatch said. “Kellie is a proven winner and dynamic leader who understands the ‘Will to Win’ necessary to succeed at the sport’s highest level. She is nationally respected, and her experience in the SEC, her deep ties to the state of Missouri and her ability to recruit and develop championship-level players make her the ideal leader for our program. We are incredibly excited about the future of Mizzou Women’s Basketball under her leadership.”
“I am incredibly honored to be the next head coach at Mizzou,” Harper said. “Missouri is a special place, and I know firsthand the passion and pride that surrounds this program. Our family is excited to return to the state of Missouri. I look forward to working with our leadership and our student-athletes, building strong relationships throughout the community and winning championships in Columbia. The foundation is in place for success — and I can’t wait to get started.”
A native of Sparta, Tennessee, Harper, 47, returns to the state of Missouri after most recently serving as the head coach at Tennessee (2019-24), with previous head-coaching stops at Western Carolina (2004-09), North Carolina State (2009-13) and Missouri State (2013-19). In 20 seasons as a Division I head coach, Harper has led her teams to a 393-260 record and nine NCAA Tournament berths. She has piloted her squads to 15 top-three league finishes and four conference tournament championships. In 2022-23, Harper led the Lady Volunteers to the NCAA Sweet 16 for a second consecutive season.
“Kellie Harper is a proven winner with a total commitment to excellence,” University of Missouri President Mun Choi said. “She has developed a championship culture throughout her career, and we know that she will elevate Mizzou women’s basketball and build a program that all Missourians will be proud to celebrate.”
“We believe Kellie Harper is the exact leader we need to take Mizzou women’s basketball to new heights,” said Todd Graves, Chair of the University of Missouri Board of Curators. “She is an established head coach with a track record of success and a vision that aligns with our championship expectations in the SEC.”
Spending five years with the Lady Vols, Harper rebuilt the historic program to national prominence. Two of her last three teams won 25 games, including a 25-9 record in 2021-22 with an 11-5 mark in SEC play and a 25-12 record in 2022-23 with a 13-3 mark against league competitors. The Lady Vols’ 13 SEC wins in 2022-23 were the program’s most since 2014-15 as they recorded 25 victories in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Overall, Harper compiled a 108-52 record at Tennessee, including a 53-24 mark against SEC competition, ranking third in winning percentage in league games behind only LSU’s Kim Mulkey and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.
“Kellie Harper has been a consistent winner everywhere she has coached,” said Curator Jeff Layman, who serves on the board’s Mizzou Intercollegiate Athletics Special Committee. “She knows Missouri, she knows the SEC and she knows how to win big games. By taking four programs to the NCAA Tournament, with three Sweet 16 appearances, there’s no doubt she knows exactly what it takes to build a winner”
“I am thrilled for the hiring of Kellie Harper as Mizzou’s next women’s basketball coach,” said former Mizzou All-American Sophie Cunningham (2016-19), the program’s all-time leading scorer and now a member of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. “Kellie and her husband, Jon, have experienced winning both in Missouri and in the SEC. I have so much respect for Coach Harper, and I can’t wait to support her and our Tigers however I can. I know from experience how incredible this fan base is when they’re excited about women’s basketball, and I can’t wait to get Mizzou Arena rockin! Congratulations to Laird, the Board of Curators and Mizzou Nation on a fantastic hire. MIZ baby!”
A staunch presence on the recruiting trail, Harper signed the No. 15-ranked class in 2021 and inked the nation’s No. 6 ranked transfer portal class in 2023, as rated by 247Sports. Harper has established a track record for recruiting elite players across the Midwest and throughout the SEC footprint. While at Tennessee, Harper coached four WNBA first-round picks in Rennia Davis (2021), Rae Burrell (2022), Jordan Horston (2023) and Rickea Jackson (2024). She is one of only three coaches all-time to produce four straight first-round picks in the WNBA Draft.
In her five years in Knoxville, Harper’s players earned All-SEC honors eight times, SEC All-Freshman recognition three times and SEC All-Defensive honors twice.
Individually, she was honored on the Naismith National Women’s Coach of the Year Award Late Season Watch List and named the Tennessee Sports Writers Association State Women’s College Basketball Coach of the Year.
As a student-athlete at Tennessee, Harper was a floor general for legendary coach Pat Summitt from 1995-99, playing 132 games and leading the Lady Vols to NCAA National Championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. She was part of a senior class that helped the Big Orange forge a 131-17 overall record as well as win two SEC regular-season championships (1998, 1999) and three SEC Tournament crowns (1996, 1998, 1999).
As a junior, she guided the Lady Vols to a 39-0 record and their third-straight national championship in 1997-98 while averaging 7.6 points and 3.8 assists for the season and scoring a career-high 20 points in the national championship game against Louisiana Tech. She went 4 of 5 from beyond the arc in that contest and was named to the 1998 All-Final Four Team.
For her Tennessee career, Harper scored 894 points and had 452 assists, leaving UT on the school’s career top 10 lists for assists, assist average, 3-point attempts and 3-point percentage. She still ranks eighth in career assists and is 11th in 3-point percentage (.364, 99-272). She was a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and earned both All-SEC Coaches Second Team and honorable mention All-America honors as a senior. She also was named to the SEC Community Service Team as a senior.
In 29 full seasons as a Division I head coach, assistant coach and player, Harper has made 24 postseason appearances with a combined 641-313 record, 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and seven WNIT bids.
With roots in the Show-Me state, Harper took the reins at Tennessee after six years at Missouri State, where she led the Lady Bears to two NCAA Tournament appearances, including an impressive march to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship and magical run to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2018-19. Under her watch, the program earned WNIT berths on three other occasions.
Harper also led North Carolina State to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2009-10, plus two WNIT appearances. Harper guided Western Carolina to NCAA Tournament berths in 2004-05 and 2008-09 with two trips to the WNIT.
Harper recorded a 118-79 record at Missouri State, claimed Missouri Valley Conference Tournament crowns in 2016 and 2019 and notched regular-season runner-up finishes in 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19. Three of her last four Missouri State teams surpassed the 20-win plateau, including the 2015-16 squad that forged Missouri State’s first NCAA appearance in a decade.
Harper was named the Missouri Valley Coach of the Year and was chosen as the 2019 Kay Yow Coach of the Year, which goes to the Division I women’s head coach who embodies a winning spirit while displaying great character, on and off the court.
Prior to her arrival at Missouri State, Harper became just the third women’s basketball coach in North Carolina State history in 2009 and directed the Wolfpack to three postseason appearances and a 70-64 record during her four-year stint, including the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Before her tenure in Raleigh, Harper guided Western Carolina to a 97-65 record and four postseason berths in five seasons, including a 70-31 mark in her final three years in Cullowhee. The Catamounts captured the first two Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament titles in school history. The 2007 SoCon Coach of the Year, seven student-athletes captured all-conference honors during her time at the helm.
Prior to her first head coaching job, Harper spent three seasons as an assistant at Chattanooga, helping the Mocs to three consecutive Southern Conference championships, three NCAA appearances and a combined 78-15 record under head coach Wes Moore. She tutored four all-conference guards while at Chattanooga, including the 2004 league player of the year.
Before her time in Chattanooga, Harper spent two seasons at Auburn, the first as an administrative assistant before being promoted to assistant coach under Joe Ciampi for the 2000-01 campaign.
Following her collegiate playing career, Harper was drafted by the Cleveland Rockers in the fourth round of the 1999 WNBA draft and earned her degree in mathematics that same year.
She played for her father, Kenneth Jolly, an assistant coach at White County High School in Sparta and was a five-time All-American during her AAU playing career. She was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009 and White County High Hall of Fame in 2012. On Dec. 24, 2019, the basketball hardwood at the new Findlay Elementary School in Sparta was dedicated as “Kellie’s Court.”
Harper is married to Jon Harper, an assistant coach on her staffs at Western Carolina, NC State, Missouri State and Tennessee. The Harpers welcomed their first child, son Jackson, in November 2013, and had a daughter, Kiley, in June 2018.
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