Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Longwood graduate guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy and graduate assistant coach Mikayla Kinnard have been selected to participate in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s 21st “So You Want To Be A Coach” class, the organization announced Monday. 

The 2024 class features 55 aspiring coaches from all three NCAA divisions. Longwood is one of Division I programs to have two participants in this year’s class, joining DePaul. 

“The WBCA created this program to give players who want to pursue a career in coaching a pathway into the profession,” said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. “We’re excited for the amazing opportunity afforded to Anne and Mikayla. This will be a great experience to learn from some of the great coaches in our game.” 

The program increases the understanding and application of skills necessary to secure coaching positions in women’s basketball, increases the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for success in coaching, introduces female basketball players to coaches and administrators, and raises awareness of the existing talent pool of female basketball players who have a passion and interest in coaching the game of women’s basketball. 

“The WBCA community of coaches each year invests in young, aspiring coaches through the ‘So You Want To Be A Coach’ program,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “We have high expectations for these graduating student-athletes and the future contributions they will make to the game of women’s basketball.” 

Participants will learn about the administrative side of coaching, recruiting, how to get hired, skill development, the importance of knowing the rules and how to balance work and life. 

Qualified candidates must have exhausted their final year of basketball eligibility at a four-year institution or have graduated within the past year and must be nominated by their WBCA-member head coach. Each participant is selected based on her academics, contributions to women’s basketball on and off the court, professional resume´ and a written recommendation from their head coach. 

LeRoy, who is in her fifth season at Longwood in 2023-24 is the Lancers’ all-time leader in free throws made (375) and is eighth in scoring (1,406 points) and career free-throw percentage (76.2). She is also fourth in Big South Conference history in games played (138). 

Kinnard, in her first season as a graduate assistant coach at Longwood, played four seasons at SIUE, graduating in December 2022. She scored 1,000 points (28th all-time for the Cougars), collected 371 rebounds and dished 262 assists. Kinnard is just one of four players to reach 1,000 points in SIUE’s Division I history.