Alcorn State has new women’s basketball coach

Perhaps it’s just coincidental, but Alcorn State’s new Athletic Director Darren Hamilton has hired his “home girl” as his women’s basketball coach.

The University announced on Tuesday that former Tennessee Volunteer and WNBA player Tonya Edwards is the next coach of the Lady Braves. Both Hamilton and Edwards are from the Flint, Mich. area and are contemporaries. Her contract at Alcorn is for four years and she will be paid $95,000 a year. She’s set to start work on Monday.

Edwards comes to ASU from the University of Detroit-Mercy, where she was an assistant women’s basketball coach for the past two seasons. Edwards, who apparently has no other college coaching experience, was an All-State high school player that helped to win 2 state high school championships. She has two collegiate NCAA championships (Univ. of Tenn.) and two world championships (WNBA) as a player. Edwards also won a high school state championship as a head coach. She was the MVP in the 1987 NCAA Women’s championship Tournament.

“We are going to provide her with all the tools to do the job. We’re committed to taking Alcorn State sports to another level and this (Edward’s hiring) is just another step,” Hamilton said at the press conference.

Edwards paid respect to former Lady Braves coach, Shirley Walker who was fired May 15, stating, “I come behind a legend in woman’s basketball in the SWAC.” Walker, who coached at ASU for 30 years, won nearly 500 games and 11 SWAC Championships and went to the NCAA playoffs three times.

Walker was 12-18 last season and had three back-to-back sub 500 slates. She was accused of multiple NCAA violations in 2006, including lack of control of her program.

“This is a dream come true…as I’ve always wanted to be a college head coach,” Edwards said. When she was younger, she always wanted to be a head coach. “I used to keep this plaque [head coach] on my mirror,” she said. “My mother told me that whenever I become a head coach, she would buy me a new wardrobe.” Now, her mother has to make good on that promise.

Edwards is very proud of the fact that she played for the legendary coach Pat Summit, who has the most career wins among women’s coaches in the NCAA.

She stressed the importance of both winning on the court and in the classroom. “We will make it a priority that academics come first and you must go to class. We’re not going to mess around with academics,” Edwards said. Edwards said she and her staff will be monitoring class attendance.

She received her B.S. degree in Sports Management from the University of Tennessee in 1990.

One thing for sure, ASU fans can expect to see a “clean sister” on the Lady Braves courtside this fall… that is if mama keeps her promise!

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