By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – From her first season at the helm to the present day, Kim Rosamond has had the Tennessee Tech women's basketball program trending upward.
Through the first four years, the Golden Eagles under her watch have improved by leaps and bounds, building a culture among the program's student-athletes and now stand to take that next step, adding to the rich 50-year legacy of Tennessee Tech women's basketball.
Rosamond will get to continue her efforts for a while longer as she received a contract extension through the 2024-25 campaign.
"I want to thank (University president) Dr. (Phil) Oldham and (TTU director of athletics) Mark Wilson for the commitment they have made to Tennessee Tech women's basketball as well as the confidence they have displayed in our coaching staff," Rosamond said. "I am honored to be the head women's basketball coach at Tennessee Tech, and I am grateful for the support we have on campus and within our community."
The 2018-19 Coach of the Year by both the Ohio Valley Conference and the Tennessee Sports Writers Association, Rosamond has built the program back into a championship contender, putting together one of the most balanced lineups in the league from top to bottom. As the 2020-21 season approaches, the road to Evansville and the OVC title will still have stops in Cookeville.
"I couldn't be prouder of the effort Kim Rosamond has provided for this storied program," Wilson said. "As we celebrate 50 years of Tennessee Tech women's basketball, it is fitting that Coach Rosamond leads us into our next 50 years. Her leadership and patience have truly paid off. She has shaped these young ladies into not just amazing student-athletes, but amazing people as well.
"As we continue a legacy of being one of the winningest programs in Division I women's basketball, there is no doubt that Coach Rosamond is the right person to lead us to many more wins for years to come. I am confident that we've only seen the beginning of a very bright future for this team and look forward to raising more banners here in the Hooper Eblen Center."
During her tenure so far, Rosamond has introduced the S.O.A.R. culture as the cornerstone the program is built upon – serving others, owning it, acquiring knowledge and responding positively in all aspects of life. Rosamond's passion and drive to develop young women into elite leaders is evident in the everyday habits and standards of the S.O.A.R. culture which focuses on growing the person academically, athletically, spiritually and socially. The commitment to developing a championship culture has been the catalyst to the recent success the program has experienced.
Academically, the Tech women have continued to reach new heights. This past semester, the team recorded a cumulative 3.753 grade point average – the fourth straight semester with a mark higher than 3.0 – and had all 16 members of the team on the Tech Athletic Director's Honor Roll, with six student-athletes collecting a perfect 4.0. Tech also earned a 991 on the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, tying for the best performance in the OVC.
Rosamond and her staff have gone a long way to build community support for her program and the University. The Tech women's basketball team continues to be one of the most-visible programs when it comes to community service and outreach.
Among the many works In the community, the Tech women's basketball team held clinics with local Girl Scout troops, volunteered with the Special Olympics and Mustard Seed Ranch, helped Tech students on Great Move In Day, as well as helped with the clean-up effort following the March 3rd tornado that struck parts of Cookeville and Putnam County.
She has continued the Maintain the Tradition initiative started by legendary Tech women's basketball head coach Bill Worrell, a fundraising effort that helps supplement the team's budget over the course of the campaign.
Rosamond also recently pledged her support to Coaches 4 Change, an organization founded by basketball coaches dedicated to helping their student-athletes, campus and communities. In 2017, she represented the OVC as a panelist in the Women Basketball Coaches Regional Workshop in Nashville, and she served as a guest speaker for the popular WBCA program "So You Want to Be a Coach" at the 2019 Women's Final Four.
Over the years, Rosamond has brought in guest speakers from the community to speak to her young charges on many diverse topics to help them grow not only as student-athletes but as young women as they enter their life after college.
With the outreach into the community, they have responded in kind as the Golden Eagles have drawn crowds from all over the Upper Cumberland region and beyond, as Tech was first in the OVC in home attendance in 2018-19, as well as second in 2019-20 and 2017-18.
The staff Rosamond has pulled together, including mainstays Allison Clark and Melanie Walls, have helped lead and solidify the group, teaching the student-athletes the game and helping raise their skills to a whole new level.
"I am beyond grateful to the outstanding coaches who have been in our program over the last 4 years especially Melanie Walls, Allison Clark and director of operations Emily Hatfield. "Coach Alli and Coach Walls have been on this journey with me since day one," Rosamond said. "Their loyalty, expertise and experience have played a crucial part in our success."
"Coaches are only as good as the people who surround them. Without question, it is the players who drive the success of our program. I am so very fortunate to coach a group of young women who do things the right way on and off the court, play for each other, are proud to be at Tennessee Tech, and are driven to be the best version of themselves each day. They motivate me on a daily basis to be at my best, and I love being their coach. I believe in them, and I believe in what we can accomplish together at Tech."
Everything didn't come together overnight as the first two seasons saw the seeds planted, but in the third season, it all started to come to fruition. The Golden Eagles in 2018-19 pulled together its best season since 2010-11 as Tech went 22-11, 12-6 in the OVC. That season saw Tech beat in-state Middle Tennessee for the first time since 2004 as well as conference road wins against Belmont and UT Martin, the former snapping the Bruins' 47-game conference winning streak. Tech also earned its first postseason tournament bid since 2011-12 with a run in the Women's Basketball Invitational.
The Golden Eagles finished 17-13 this past season, including a 10-8 mark in the OVC. It was the first back-to-back winning seasons for the program since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 campaigns to conclude the Bill Worrell era and first back-to-back double-digit conference win seasons since 2010-11 through 2012-13.
Tech opened the OVC slate with eight straight wins, the best start to league play for the program since the 2000-01 season. During that span, the Golden Eagles earned a spot on the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 Poll.
With a very experienced team coming back this season, Tech looks to surpass that.
"We are proud of the progress we have made over the last four years," Rosamond said, "but we are also excited about the work ahead as well as the opportunities in front of us."
Photo | Jim Dillon
