Not only will the East Tennessee State women’s basketball players be heading to the Southern Conference with 22 wins and a load of confidence, they’ll have the coach of the year.
Brenda Mock Brown, the Bucs’ first-year head coach, was chosen as the SoCon’s coach of the year by the league’s coaches. The conference announced its awards on Tuesday and ETSU players Jiselle Thomas (first-team all-conference), Kendall Folley (second-team and all-defensive team) and Journee McDaniel (all-freshman team) were also honored.
While Brown was voted in by the coaches, the media chose Wofford’s Jimmy Garrity as coach of the year. ETSU swept Garrity’s team, beating the Terriers by 17 and 38 points in the two meetings. Wofford still managed to win the league’s regular-season title.
“I definitely thought from the beginning that she’s special,” Folley said about her coach. “We are so lucky that everything worked out the way it worked out. She believes in us as people, not just players. She’s someone that years on, once I’ve graduated, there’s still going to be a relationship.”
Brown is the first ETSU women’s coach to win a coach of the year award since the late Karen Kemp did it in the Atlantic Sun in 2008. Under Brown, the Bucs are 22-8 and she’s authored the biggest turnaround in women’s basketball this year. ETSU won six games last season.
“Obviously, when you’re coach of the year, your team has been successful,” Brown said. “I credit my team, but I really do want to thank my staff, Joe Silvestri, Jackie Alexander, Trinese Fox, Alyssa Sweeney. They have made it happen. They welcomed me with open arms. This kind of success couldn’t have happened if the staff camaraderie hadn’t been there. It is a coaches of the year award.”
During the regular season, Thomas averaged 15.4 points per game. After transferring from Temple, she scored her 1,000th career point this season and will be the team’s only graduate. Folley was the SoCon’s player of the week twice after averaging 14.2 points per game. McDaniel was second on the team in rebounding at 5.7 per game.
The Bucs are seeded third in the SoCon tournament and will face No. 6 Samford on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
Joe Avento is the Sports Editor for the Johnson City Press and Kingsport Times News and has covered East Tennessee State University athletics and local golf since 1987.
