By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information Coordinator

COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—Tennessee Tech head women's basketball coach Kim Rosamond announced that she has hired former WNBA player Crystal Kelly as an assistant coach on Friday.

"Crystal Kelly is one of the up-and-coming young coaches in our profession," said Kim Rosamond. "It is hard not to be impressed with her resume. She was one of the best high school players to play in the state of Kentucky, the all-time leading scorer at Western Kentucky, a WNBA draft pick, and a successful professional player. She has spent the last four years gaining valuable coaching experience from an outstanding coaching staff at Bellarmine University (Louisville, Ky.). Crystal is on a path to be one of the premier post coaches in the country. Her ability to connect with young people as well as her recruiting connections to Kentucky and Tennessee will pay huge dividends for our program. I watched Crystal dominate in high school, tried to figure out ways to guard her in college, and have now had the chance to see her grow as a professional. To say I am excited about Coach Kelly joining our staff would be an understatement."

Kelly will come to Tech after serving for four years as an assistant women's basketball coach at Bellarmine University. In the 2015-16 season, she helped lead the Knights to a 24-4 overall record, tying the best winning percentage (.857) in program history, and a 15-3 finish in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). Kelly also helped guide Bellarmine to an unprecedented GLVC Tournament Championship after the Knights upset No. 10 Drury, 80-77, in the semifinals and then No. 22 Quincy, 89-78, in the finals to claim their first NCAA berth since 2008.

"I am so excited to join the Golden Eagle family," remarked Kelly. "I've known Kim for a few years now and I know how passionate she is, which feeds right over to me. I cannot wait to be a part of what she will do at Tech. I look forward to the girls returning to campus and getting to know them, and for them to know me as well. I cannot wait to get to work." 

Prior to her coaching career at Bellarmine, Kelly was a third-round, 31st-overall draft pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Houston Comets. In three seasons in the league, she averaged 4.8 points and 2.4 rebounds while also playing overseas during the offseason. 

Kelly also saw tremendous success during her college and prep school careers. Regarded as one of the top prep athletes to ever come out of Louisville, Kelly was named the Gatorade Player of the Year twice, and was the 2004 Associated Press Player of the Year. She led Sacred Heart Academy to three consecutive Sweet 16 titles from 2002 to 2004. She was named a Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American and Miss Basketball her senior year.

Playing collegiately at Western Kentucky University, Kelly completed her four-year career as the program's all-time leader in scoring (2,803) and rebounding (1,285). At the time, her 2,803 points ranked her 12th in NCAA Division I history, and today stands as 23rd all-time. Kelly also holds the Hilltopper record for most field goals (895), free throws made (828), free throws attempted (1,071) and rebounds (1,167) in a career. In her final year at Western Kentucky, Kelly was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year while leading the nation in field-goal percentage at 64.8 percent.

Since then, Kelly has been inducted into the 2015 Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame class and was honored on the 2016 WBCA's Thirty Under 30 list, which recognizes 30 up-and-coming coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. While at Tech, Kelly will serve as the post coach and be heavily involved in all aspects of recruiting.

"With the additions of Coach Walls and Coach Kelly, we have put together a championship staff," Rosamond said. "Our first recruiting success was convincing Coach Clark to stay on board at Tennessee Tech. Alli has been tremendous in my first month on campus, and I couldn't imagine being on this journey without her. All three assistant coaches have won at a high level, value player development, and have extensive experience teaching the game of basketball. Most importantly, all three are outstanding people and will work relentlessly to help our players be successful young women on and off the court."

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