EIU Announces Four Finalists For Women's Basketball Coach

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Published on May 10 2013 7:04 am
Last Updated on May 10 2013 7:04 am
Written by Millie Lange

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois has announced the four finalists for its head women’s basketball coach position with on-campus interviews to begin this week.  The four finalists are Chris Kielsmeier, Rekha Patterson, Debbie Black and Krystal Reeves Evans.

An open session for all four candidates will take place on campus with Kielsmeier set for 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 9 in the EIU Lantz Club Room; Patterson set for 4 p.m. on Friday, May 10 in the EIU Lantz Academic Center; Black set for Monday, May 13 at 4 p.m. in the Lantz Club room and Reeves Evans set for Tuesday, May 14 at 4 p.m. in the Lantz Club Room.

“We had a tremendous amount of interest in our women’s basketball head coaching position at Eastern Illinois,” said EIU Director of Athletics Barbara Burke.  “These four candidates are individuals that I believe can continue to lead our program.  All four have a proven track record of success that will help EIU women’s basketball remain at the top of the Ohio Valley Conference.”

The Panthers made their second straight WNIT appearance this past season after winning the OVC regular season title.  EIU advanced to the second round of the WNIT after winning the programs first post-season contest at Missouri.  EIU has made four straight post-season appearances.

Kielsmeier has been the head coach at Wayne State College in Nebraska since 2008.  He has been a head coach for 13 years with 295 career wins coming at Wayne State and Howard Payne University.

Patterson is an associate coach at Baylor and has been on the Bears staff since 2008 resulting in one National Championship and two Final Four appearances.  She has additional assistant coaching stops at Creighton, Ball State and Eastern Illinois.

Black has been an assistant coach at Ohio State for the past eight seasons helping the program win six Big Ten Championships.  She was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt and played professionally in the WNBA.

Reeves Evans just finished her first season as an assistant coach at Georgetown University.  She has also been an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb University serving two seasons as the associate head coach for the program.