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Katie Gearlds
Gearlds in 2022
Purdue Boilermakers
Position Head coach
League Big Ten Conference
Personal information
Born (1984-10-26) October 26, 1984 (age 39)
Beech Grove, Indiana
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight184 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High school Beech Grove
(Beech Grove, Indiana)
College Purdue (2003–2007)
WNBA draft 2007: 1st round, 7th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle Storm
Playing career2007–2013
Position Forward
Number4
Coaching career2013–present
Career history
As player:
2007–2009 Seattle Storm
As coach:
2013–2021 Marian (Indiana)
2021–present Purdue
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

  • 2x NAIA D2 National Champions (2016, 2017)
Stats at WNBA.com

Kathryn Ann Gearlds (born October 26, 1984) is an American women's basketball coach and former forward, who is the current head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers. She is also the former women's basketball head coach of the Marian Knights. She played college basketball at Purdue for coaches Kristy Curry and Sharon Versyp from 2003 to 2007 and played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for three seasons from 2007 to 2009.

High school

Gearlds was born in Beech Grove, Indiana and attended Beech Grove High School. In her four years, she compiled 2,521 career points, which ranked her fourth in Indiana history. She won numerous awards in her high school career, including being named Miss Basketball in 2003, after leading the Hornets to the 3A State Championship. Gearlds was also named a WBCA All-American, and participated in the 2003 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored ten points. [1] She was the MVP of the 2003 McDonald's All-American Game.

College

Gearlds went on to star at Purdue University. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2004. In her four years as a Boilermaker, she compiled 14.8 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game, and 3.0 assists per game. The team had a 103–30 record during her tenure. She earned the Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2007 after Purdue defeated Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. [2] She also won both the women's and overall State Farm College Three Point Championships on March 29, 2007, [3] defeating male competitor and future NBA starter Aaron Brooks 17 to 16.

She graduated from Purdue in 2007 with a bachelor of science degree in sociology with a minor in psychology and communications.

Purdue statistics

Source [4]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Purdue 33 350 47.6 45.7 73.2 2.7 2.1 1.2 0.5 10.6
2004–05 Purdue  30 422 39.6 31.9 89.0 3.8 3.0 1.6 1.0 14.1
2005–06 Purdue  33 495 43.6 37.3 84.8 4.1 3.6 1.0 0.8 15.0
2006–07 Purdue  37 707 44.2 38.9 89.5 4.9 3.3 1.6 0.4 19.1
Career Purdue  133 1974 43.6 37.9 86.3 3.9 3.0 1.4 0.6 14.8

WNBA and overseas career

On April 4, 2007, Gearlds was selected by the Seattle Storm with the seventh overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft. In her rookie campaign, Gearlds appeared in 33 games for the Storm. She averaged 4.0 points per game, 1.6 rebounds per game, and 1.5 assists per game. She only played two more WNBA seasons (all with Seattle), appearing in 87 total games and averaging 4.4 points per game.

However, Gearlds playing career continued overseas. She spent two seasons (2011–12) in Spain as a professional player, and she also spent three years (2008–10) in Greece where she played and served as an assistant coach. She also spent some of 2007 in Slovakia as a player. In early 2013, she spent the year playing in Portugal and averaged 14.3 points per game for Alges where she was part of the league and cup championship teams.

Coaching career

On July 16, 2013, Gearlds was named the head coach of the women's basketball team at Marian University.

In just her second season, Gearlds led the Knights to a 28–6 record, earning the program's second-ever NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament berth, and first Crossroads League title. In her third season, she led the Knights to a record of 32–6 (.842) and won the 2016 National title, the first in program history. The Knights repeated as National Champions in 2017, winning their final 23 games to finish with a school-record 35 wins.

On March 26, 2021; Purdue announced the 2021–2022 season will be the last year of the "Versyp Era" at Purdue, Gearlds joining the Boilermaker staff and then succeeding Sharon Versyp as the head coach in the spring of 2022. [5] The Journal & Courier reported on August 18, 2021 that Purdue University was investigating allegations that Versyp created a “toxic and hostile environment,” including verbally attacking players and bullying a member of her coaching staff. [6] It was announced on September 16, 2021 that Versyp would be retiring and replaced by Gearlds a year earlier than originally planned. [7]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Marian Knights ( Crossroads League) (2013–2021)
2013–14 Marian 16–16 8–10 5th
2014–15 Marian 28–6 14–4 2nd NAIA Division II First Round
2015–16 Marian 32–6 16–2 1st NAIA Division II National Champions
2016–17 Marian 35–3 17–1 1st NAIA Division II National Champions
2017–18 Marian 32–3 17–1 1st NAIA Division II First Round
2018–19 Marian 27–7 16–2 1st NAIA Division II First Round
2019–20 Marian 31–3 16–2 1st Postseason canceled due to COVID-19
2020–21 Marian 26–5 16–0 1st
Marian: 227–49 120–22
Purdue Boilermakers ( Big Ten Conference) (2021–present)
2021–22 Purdue 17–15 7–11 T–9th WNIT Second Round
2022–23 Purdue 19–11 9–8 7th NCAA Division I First Four
2023–24 Purdue 15–19 5–13 T–11th WNIT Great 8
Purdue: 51–45 (.531) 21–32 (.396)
Total: 278–94 (.747)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

External links

References

  1. ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
  2. ^ Championship Game Notes, from the Big Ten Conference website. Retrieved April 1, 2007
  3. ^ The Post-Standard, Syracuse's online newspaper. Retrieved April 1st, 2007
  4. ^ "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Gearlds Joins Coaching Staff as Part of Planned Succession".
  6. ^ Carmin, Mike. "Purdue women's basketball coach Sharon Versyp accused of creating 'toxic and hostile' environment". Journal and Courier. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  7. ^ Carmin, Mike. "Sharon Versyp to retire; Katie Gearlds takes over Purdue women's basketball program". Journal and Courier. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
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