Thank you for joining us today on “Call to Coaching”. Today’s special guest is Coach Desma Thomas Bateast. Coach Desma is an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator at Florida State University. She is a new addition to the staff this year. Previously, Coach Desma was an assistant coach at Cleveland State University for three years. During her time at Cleveland State, Coach Desma helped the Vikings achieve a Horizon League Championship and an appearance at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Before her time at Cleveland State, Coach Desma was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at FAU. She was also an assistant coach at USF from 2013-2017 and helped the Bulls make four postseason appearances, three of which were in the NCAA tournament and three consecutive AAC Championship appearances. Prior to her time at USF Coach Desma coached at FIU, Rhode Island, and Dillard University. In 2005-2006 she was a scout for the New York Liberty. Coach Desma played at the collegiate level at The University of Miami and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2012. After her time at Miami Coach Desma played professionally for five years.

Thank you for joining us on Call to Coaching! Today we have Coach Chris Ayers joining us. Coach Ayers is an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator for the Ole Miss women’s basketball team. The rebels wrapped up their 22-23 season on an impressive run at the NCAA Tournament making it to the Sweet 16 and finishing 25-9. In his time at Ole Miss, Coach Ayers has helped recruit and develop elite players. He helped secure the SEC’s top ranked class in 2019-2020. That 2019-2020 freshman class included Madison Scott, Jacorriah Bracey, and Snudda Collins. Madison Scott became the SEC Freshman of the Year and she and Collins were on the SEC All-Freshman team. That season they also secured ESPN’s top-ranked transfer, Shakira Austin. In her time at Ole Miss, Austin was awarded First-Team All SEC, the Gillom trophy recipient in 2021 and 2022, an Honorable Mention All-America, and became the 3rd overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft. Coach Ayers has also helped mentor and develop impressive players such as Angel Baker, Myah Taylor, Mimi Reid, and Crystal Allen. Coach Ayers broke into the Division I women’s college basketball scene at Georgia Tech where he was a graduate manager during the 2017-2018 season. As a graduate manager, Coach Ayers assisted with scouting and player development. Prior to his time at Georgia Tech, Coach Ayers worked as a high school coach for boys’ and girls’ basketball. He also was an assistant coach for the Nike Essence AAU program. While he coached high school and AAU, Coach Ayers had more than 100 athletes that went on to play collegiately, professionally, or both.

Thank you for joining us today on Call to Coaching! Today we have special guest Coach Ali Sanders joining us. Coach Sanders is currently an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the Harvard women’s basketball team. This past season was Ali’s first year at Harvard. The team finished 20-12 with three wins in the WNIT tournament, making school history with the team’s first appearance in the Great 8. After the 22-23 season, Coach Sanders gained a spot on the WBCA’s 30 under 30 list. Previously, Coach Sanders was an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Monmouth from 21-22. Before that, she served as an Assistant Coach at La Salle University during the 20-21 season, where she headed recruiting and video operations. Coach Sanders was also the video coordinator at Penn State 19-20, and the video coordinator at Marquette 18-19. Prior to her time at Marquette Ali was a graduate assistant and video coordinator for the women’s basketball team at The University of Florida. Coach Sanders broke into the college basketball scene when she played for Florida Southern, leading the team in scoring her junior year. Coach Sanders thank you for joining us today!

Thank you for joining us today on Call to Coaching! Today we have special guest Coach Ari Wideman joining us. Ari is currently an Assistant Coach for the women’s basketball team at The University of Toledo. Previously, Coach Wideman was an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Arkansas State University for one year. Before her time at Arkansas State, Ari spent four seasons at San Jose State as an Assistant Coach. Ari’s break into college women’s basketball began at The University of Nevada where she played four seasons for the Wolf Pack and was ranked third in the program with 383 assists. Coach, thank you for joining us today!

Thank you for joining us today on Call to Coaching! Today’s special guest is Coach Kaitlynn Pacholke also known as Coach KP. KP is now an Assistant Coach for the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears. Along with her Assistant Coaching responsibilities, KP is the recruiting coordinator. Before becoming an assistant coach at Central Arkansas, KP spent two years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Southern Miss for the women’s basketball team. Coach KP also spent four years at Evansville as an assistant coach and 2 years as a Graduate Assistant for the University of Florida women’s basketball team. Coach KP was inspired to become a coach because of her journey playing college basketball. She is an alumnus of Newberry College women’s basketball. Coach, thank you for joining us today.

Today we have Florida State Women’s Basketball Associate Head Coach, Bill Ferrara, as our special guest. Coach Ferrara just finished up his first season at FSU where he helped lead the Seminoles to a 23-win season and an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Overall, his resume is beyond impressive. During his time at New Mexico as an assistant coach the team accomplished back-to-back 20-win seasons and a Mountain West Regular season championship in the 2020-2021 season. In his time at the University of Florida, Coach Ferrara was part of a Gators team that earned a 5th seed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and led the SEC in scoring that season. In 2013-2015 Coach Ferrara was an assistant at George Washington. He helped lead the program to a 29-4 record the 2014-2015 season. Additionally, Coach Ferrara was an integral part in developing post player, Jonquel Jones. Jones went on to be the 6th overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft and the 2021 league MVP. Like I said before his resume is beyond impressive and I could go on and on about his accomplishments. I personally know Bill because I worked with him for one season at St. John’s University. His energy and passion are inspiring. He has helped me break into the world of coaching at the NCAA Division I level. I am so grateful for him and extremely excited to introduce him today. Bill thank you so much for joining us!

Today we have Minnesota Women’s Basketball Assistant Head Coach Jason Jeschke joining us. This past season, Coach Jeschke was the Associate Head Coach at the University of West Virginia where the Mountaineers finished 19-12 and made a NCAA tournament appearance. Before that he had a successful run at the University of South Dakota. Coach Jeschke began at South Dakota in 2017 as an Assistant Coach and was promoted in 2018 to Associate Head Coach. While at South Dakota Coach Jeschke helped guide the program to three regular season titles, three conference tournament championships, and four NCAA tournament appearances, making a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2022.

Today we have special guest Coach Candice Walker. Coach Walker is currently the Associate Head Coach at St. John’s University for the Women’s Basketball team. They just wrapped up a record-breaking season, going undefeated the first 13 games and upsetting Geno Auriemma’s UCONN Huskies. The team made an appearance on the AP Top 25 Poll and concluded their season competing in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Before St. John’s, Coach Walker was an assistant coach at UMass Amherst. She helped lead UMass to their first 20-win season since 1996. In 2020, Coach Walker was highlighted on the WBCA’s thirty under 30 list. I want to give Coach a chance to tell us about her basketball journey, so it is my pleasure to introduce Coach Candice Walker.