Vanderbilt women’s basketball coach Shea Ralph has a vision and plans for her team. Now she is assured of time to implement them.
Ralph, who is entering her fourth season as the Commodores‘ coach, has received a contract extension, the university announced Wednesday. After two seasons finishing near the bottom of the SEC, they broke through last season, qualifying for the NCAA tournament and winning their First Four game.
“It’s hard to put what that means into words for me,” Ralph said Wednesday at SEC Media Days in Birmingham, Alabama. “And when we came here, my husband and I, to take over the program at Vanderbilt, we had extensive conversations with both Dr. Candice Storey Lee and Chancellor (Daniel) Diermeier about our vision for the program and bringing it back to national prominence and being in the conversation for championships every year is really important to us.”
In the offseason, Vanderbilt retained seven of its top eight scorers, and has two incoming freshmen and two transfers.
“This wasn’t a steppingstone for me. This is somewhere I want to be for a long time. So to see some of that vision coming to reality now, as we had a great season last year, and to hear Candace and Chancellor Diermeier want to extend my contract, believe in my vision, see the progress, is very, very, very meaningful and important to us,” Ralph said. “It helps me with recruiting, it helps my players, it helps my staff.”
The terms of Ralph’s extension, including her pay and contract length, are not known; Vanderbilt, because it is a private school, is not subject to public records laws.
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Although Vanderbilt returned the majority of its starters, the one loss was a big one: Jordyn Cambridge. The three-time SEC All-Defensive Team honoree was known for her defensive skills and passing ability.
“When you lose a player like Jordyn Cambridge, it’s, it’s hard to fill those shoes, right?” Ralph said. “There’s not going to be anyone that replicates what she was able to do for our team.”
But Ralph likes the players she brought in, including two-time Big Ten All-Defensive honoree Leilani Kapinus from Penn State and ultra-versatile Pepperdine transfer Jane Nwaba. Then there are the two freshmen, Trinity Wilson and five-star McDonald’s All American Mikayla Blakes.
Blakes, from Rutgers Prep in New Jersey, was the highest-ranked recruit Ralph has landed; Blakes chose Vanderbilt over blue bloods like Tennessee and Stanford.
“Mikayla Blakes has been one of our best players in practice,” Ralph said. “Every single day has brought a competitive fire and a will to win and a fearlessness that I haven’t seen in a freshman in a long time.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Shea Ralph extension: What Vanderbilt women’s basketball coach said
