Washington State women’s basketball staff has deep ties to NCAA Tournament opponent, Kansas State

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Years before they began a rebuild at Washington State, three contemporary Cougars coaches built Kansas State’s program into a consistent NCAA Tournament contender.

WSU coach Kamie Ethridge spent 18 seasons as an assistant at K-State under Deb Patterson – now the director of player personnel/analytics under Ethridge. In the early 2000s, they landed a 3-point specialist at guard in Laurie Koehn – now Ethridge’s associate head coach.

Patterson, the Wildcats’ all-time winningest coach, compiled a 350-226 overall record and guided K-State to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances during a golden age for the program between 1996-2014 before she and her staff were fired. She then joined Ethridge at Northern Colorado and made the move to the Palouse in 2019.

Koehn, a Kansas native, dazzled across four seasons and earned two All-Big 12 nods. She led the Wildcats to four straight NCAA Tournament berths – and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2002.

She left Manhattan, Kansas, with the NCAA’s career record for 3-pointers (392), a record she held until 2015, and spent 11 seasons playing professionally before joining Ethridge and Patterson at Northern Colorado in 2015.

WSU and K-State square off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum.

Ethridge has downplayed her staff’s connection to K-State.

“I hate that the NCAA put us in the position that we’re having to speak on old ties and things like that, because it really has no bearing on this year’s team and the way we prepare and what we want to do,” Ethridge said Monday. “So, no motivation based on K-State – it’s just who we’re matched up with.”

“I don’t know if the NCAA knows the histories of the little peon coaches, but I just think it’s ironic and that’s the only thing I’d say,” Ethridge added Friday. “Our players hardly even know that half of our staff were at K-State and have no idea how many years we were there. I’m proud of what we accomplished while we were there. … This whole process has nothing to do with coaches. It’s completely and totally about the team and those 13 individuals I get to coach.”

Notable: WSU president Kirk Schulz served in the same position at K-State from 2009-16.