Keisha McClinic was named the Associate Head Coach for the Tennessee State University women's basketball team in September 2020.
McClinic comes to Tennessee State after four years at East Tennessee State. McClinic served as the Bucs’ Recruiting and Player Development Coordinator, Academic Director and in August of 2019 was promoted to the title of Associate Head Coach.
In McClinic's time on staff, the Bucs placed 13 players on the Southern Conference preseason or postseason all-conference teams while mentees of McClinic have won the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year Award twice and the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year once. In the 2017-18 season, the Bucs made the postseason WNIT for the fourth time in school history.
Under her guidance academically, the Bucs achieved a 3.002 team GPA in the 2018-19 season. During the 2017-18 year, McClinic assisted the Bucs in earning a 3.175 team GPA, helping eight of 12 players receive a 3.0 GPA or higher. In 2016-17, McClinic led the Bucs to a 3.3 team GPA in her first year as the program's Academic Coordinator.
“I’m honored to reunite with my friend and mentor Coach Ty Evans as well as join the Tennessee State Women’s Basketball Program,” said McClinic. "Ty’s work ethic and love for the game is unmatched! He has a compassion for growing players into great players but even better people! I am excited I get to work with a great staff, players, and administrators to help our program compete at the highest level in all aspects!”
Prior to joining the staff at ETSU, McClinic spent one year as an assistant coach at OVC member Murray State. With the Racers, McClinic was in charge of recruiting and academics, where she coached one all-conference player, one Freshman of the Year honoree and six Commissioner's Honor Roll nominees.
Before her stint at MSU, McClinic served three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Pensacola State College. While at PSC, she coached a pair of First and Second Team All-Panhandle Conference players, six Academic All-Conference student-athletes and one Academic All-American.
McClinic earned her Master’s degree in Sports Management from the University of Alabama in 2009 after serving as the women’s basketball graduate assistant for two seasons. After graduation, she stayed at Alabama to become the Director of Player Development for two seasons while spending the 2011-12 season as the Director of Operations.
From 2000-04, McClinic played at Middle Tennessee State University where she appeared in the most games (120) in program history and ranked second in career steals with 246. As a team captain, McClinic earned the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year award after she ranked fourth in the NCAA in steals per game (3.5). As a senior, she helped the Blue Raiders upset 12th-ranked North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
A a native of Stockbridge, Ga., McClinic graduated from Middle Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation Therapy.
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