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BREAKING: Rice Women’s Basketball hires Lindsay Edmonds as head coach

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Rice Women’s Basketball has named former NC State assistant Lindsay Edmonds as its new head coach, the school announced on Friday.

On April 6, athletic director Joe Karlgaard met with the media to discuss the recently vacated Rice women’s basketball head coaching position. At the time, Karlgaard prognosticated a national search would begin imminently and wind down somewhere between “between 10 and 20 days.” He also alluded to a wider candidate pool given the timing of the search, including prospective coaches coming off NCAA Tournament runs.

Sure enough, with a few days remaining in that prescribed window, Rice has their new coach. On Friday the Owls announced the hiring of now-former NC State assistant head coach Lindsay Edmonds.

Edmonds joins Rice after seven seasons with the NC State, six as an assistant before being elevated to associate head coach prior to the 2019-2020 season. She helped lead the Wolfpack to Sweet 16 appearances in 2018, 2019 and 2021, three consecutive seasons in which the NCAA Tournament was held. Along the way, Edmonds aided multiple WNBA draft selections, including 2014 first-round selection Markeisha Gatling.

Rice could have gone in several different directions with this hire. They opted to follow a course charted previously by Karlgaard prior to the 2015 season when he hired now-former head coach Tina Langley, scooping her away from an extremely successful Maryland program while she was an assistant.

There’s no surefire way to guarantee following a similar method will work in successive hires, but there are no doubting Edmonds credentials as she arrives.

Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard had this to say about Edmonds’ arrival: “Lindsay Edmonds stood out among a very talented pool in our coaching search,” Karlgaard said. “She has the experience and track record we are looking for to continue the recent success of our program and build upon it. Everywhere Lindsay has coached, she has won. Her student-athletes have excelled in the classroom and in the community. I’m excited for her to lead the next chapter of Rice women’s basketball.”

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NCAA Football passes significant recruiting, transfer measures

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NCAA football passed two significant milestones this week. On-campus recruiting will resume June 1 and transfer policies have been relaxed.

This was a significant week for NCAA football. Two incredibly important announcements went forth from the D1 Council this week. Current and future recruiting cycles have been modified and player freedoms have been expanded.

Transfer Legislation

In a move long rumored to be in the works, the council passed a one-time transfer rule for all D1 student-athletes. Already in place for a myriad of Olympic sports, the most notable change was the expansion of this policy to football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s hockey. The policy will go into place immediately, meaning athletes who transfer for the first time this summer and receive immediate eligibility for all sports.

MAC Commissioner and chair of the NCAA’s working group on transfers, Dr. Jon Steinbrecher offered his support in a statement. “Allowing student-athletes a one-time opportunity to transfer and compete immediately provides a uniform, equitable and understandable approach that benefits all student-athletes,” he said. “This decision is consistent with Division I’s goal of modernizing its rules to prioritize student-athlete opportunity and choice.”

Recruiting ramps back up

For the first time in more than a year, on-campus recruiting visits will be reopened. Programs across the country will be able to resume their normal recruiting calendars effective June 1. That means in-person evaluations and conversations for the class of 2022.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Search begins after Tina Langley’s departure

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Rice women’s basketball is on the hunt for a new head coach. With Tina Langley moving on, where will the Owls turn next?

In a way, it came out of the blue. One Sunday afternoon, Rice women’s basketball was cutting down the nets at the WNIT. A little more than a week later Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard gathered with media on a zoom call to announce what he termed an “aggressive” search.

The search was made necessary the day prior when Washington announced the hiring of now-former Rice coach Tina Langley. After turning Rice into three-time Conference USA Champions with postseason championships in the CBI and WNIT, Langley had caught the eye of the Huskies. Now she’s headed to the Pac-12 and Rice has to start over, albeit not from scratch.

In a statement released shortly following Langley’s announcement, Karlgaard spoke to the structure Langley was leaving at South Main. “We have an incredible foundation in place for women’s basketball, including a winning program, top-notch student-athletes, strong university and alumni support, and a world-class institution,” Karlgaard said. “As we look for the next leader of our program, we are in a prime position to attract the very best coaches in college basketball to Rice University.”

Those close to the program always knew Langley was destined for bigger things. She was reportedly on the shortlist to be the successor at Duke last summer before the Blue Devils looked elsewhere. Langley and the Owls made the extra year count, ending a grueling 2021 season with a trophy. In many ways, she went out on top.

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Langley leaves Rice women’s basketball with the highest winning percentage in program history (.673). She went 126-61 in six seasons, winning 20 or more games in her final five campaigns. She coached WNBA draft selection Erica Ogwumike and reigning three-time C-USA Defensive Player of the Year, Nancy Mulkey.

With Langley headed West, Rice has work to do. Karglaard met with the team on Monday, shortly after Langley informed them of her departure. Now Karlgaard intends to gather further feedback from current players first then formally begin reaching out to candidates.

Karlgaard noted interest in the job “was pretty high right now” and the candidate pool would focus on coaches with “a depth of experience”, including former assistants (like Langley) and others that already had head coaching experience. Presumably, there would be more sitting head coaches interested this time around than when Langley was hired six years ago. Altogether he expects the search to last somewhere “between 10 and 20 days”, with the freedom to extend the search should it be necessary.

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Rice Basketball: Owls land commitment from UMass transfer Carl Pierre

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Rice basketball has added another impactful scoring threat, picking up a commitment from UMass grad transfer Carl Pierre.

The Transfer Portal was not kind to Rice basketball last spring. No sooner had the regular season ended than was head coach Scott Pera abruptly met with an exodus of outgoing players. Pera and Co. reloaded, taking the Owls further into the Conference USA Tournament than ever before under his watch.

Set on making a return trip and going further into March, Rice hopes to add the “finishing touch” to a strong corps. To this point, only graduate Payton Moore has elected to not return to South Main next season. He’ll look to play his final year of eligibility elsewhere. His absence opens up a roster spot that Rice will move to fill quickly with former UMass guard Carl Pierre.

Pierre is a former high school teammate of current Rice Owl, Travis Evee. Although the two went their separate ways for college, they both retained the propensity for scoring. Evee finished second (to teammate Quincy Olivari) in three-point field goal percentage among all C-USA shooters. Pierre shot 33.3 percent from three last season, a mark that would have put him fifth among all C-USA players last year. He’s 38.4 percent shooter from three in his career.

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Pierre leaves UMass second all-time in career three-point field goals made. He started 99 straight games for the Minutemen and should slide right into a starting spot at Rice. Given his track record and the opportunities presented by the Rice offense, the Owls very well boast three of the best distance shooters in the entire league next season.

As things currently stand, Pierre would join a starting rotation that includes Olivari, Evee, Max Fielder and Quincy Olivari. If you like scoring, you’re in luck. There won’t be a more potent offense in Conference USA. The season can’t get here soon enough.

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Rice Women’s Basketball outlasts Ole Miss to win WNIT Championship

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Rice women’s basketball capped off a perfect postseason on Sunday, outlasting Ole Miss to win the WNIT Championship.

Sunday marked the first-ever WNIT Championship Game appearance for Rice women’s basketball. Winners of four straight WNIT Tournament games, all by double-digits, the eager Owls arrived ready to make history.

Rice displayed the same physicality and focus they’d exemplified over the past two weeks, taking an early and extending it a little bit at a time. Lauren Schwartz sparked the Owls’ offense with 10 first quarter points, cutting and weaving through the Ole Miss defense for what seemed to be endless open shots in the lane.

The tandem of Nancy Mulkey in the paint and Schwartz on the drive proved too much for Ole Miss to handle. That early lead began to grown extending to an 11-point lead at halftime. Rice lead 34-23 at the break. All they had to do was keep up the defensive intensity and the title would be theirs.

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Ole Miss had barely caught their breath when the second half onslaught began. Jasmine Smith got things started with a three. Then Schwartz and Mulkey continued to add to the Rice advantage. There were key contributions from Smith, Sydne Wiggins, Haylee Swayze and Katelyn Crosthwait, but the tandem of Schwartz and Mulkey proved impossible for Ole Miss to overcome.

The Rebels threatened, cutting their deficit to four points in the fourth quarter. But the Owls found that extra gear. Rice would hold on down the stretch, outscoring Ole Miss 71 to 58 to win the 2021 WNIT Championship.

Player of the Game – Nancy Mulkey

In her final career game as a Rice Owl, center Nancy Mulkey was magnificent. She scored 19 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and smacked seven blocks, one short of a season-high. . Ole Miss simply had no answer for her in the paint, and when they tried to key in on her, she’d funnel the ball to an open teammate.

Mulkey will leave Rice as one of the most productive and impactful players in program history. It’s fitting her final moments on the floor lifted her team to a championship.

Making history

And as for making history, the win marked the second time in the last four seasons that head coach Tina Langley and the Owls had won a postseason tournament. They won the WBI in 2017, defeating UNC Greensboro. Now they’ll add a WNIT Championship to their trophy case.

Rice women’s basketball is also the first team in Conference USA history to win the WNIT. Yet another first for a program that keeps winning.

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