Katie Gearlds
 Gearlds in 2022 | |
| Purdue Boilermakers | |
|---|---|
| Position | Head coach |
| League | Big Ten Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | October 26, 1984 Beech Grove, Indiana |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 184 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 career | 2007–2013 |
| Position | Forward |
| Number | 4 |
| Coaching career | 2013–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:
| |
| Stats at WNBA.com | |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
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
[edit]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
[edit]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.
Career statistics
[edit]| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
WNBA career statistics
[edit]Regular season
[edit]| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Seattle | 33 | 0 | 13.2 | 38.6 | 34.4 | 88.0 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 4.0 |
| 2008 | Seattle | 34 | 3 | 13.8 | 37.3 | 39.1 | 73.9 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 5.0 |
| 2009 | Seattle | 20 | 0 | 12.2 | 39.2 | 40.4 | 75.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 4.1 |
| Career | 3 years, 1 team | 87 | 3 | 13.2 | 38.2 | 38.0 | 80.8 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 4.4 |
Playoffs
[edit]| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Seattle | 2 | 0 | 11.5 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| 2008 | Seattle | 3 | 0 | 7.0 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Career | 2 years, 1 team | 5 | 0 | 8.8 | 37.5 | 40.0 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 |
College career statistics
[edit]Source[4]
| 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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]| 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 | |||||||||
External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "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.
- ^ Championship Game Notes, from the Big Ten Conference website. Retrieved April 1, 2007
- ^ The Post-Standard, Syracuse's online newspaper. Retrieved April 1st, 2007
- ^ "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ^ "Gearlds Joins Coaching Staff as Part of Planned Succession".
- ^ Carmin, Mike. "Purdue women's basketball coach Sharon Versyp accused of creating 'toxic and hostile' environment". Journal and Courier. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ Carmin, Mike. "Sharon Versyp to retire; Katie Gearlds takes over Purdue women's basketball program". Journal and Courier. Retrieved 16 September 2021.