Though things ended roughly at her last coaching stop, Semeka Randall knows a thing or two about winning. Randall was a stand-out defensive player for the powerhouse Lady Vol women’s basketball program from 1998-2001. She was a key member on the 1998 NCAA Championship team that went 39-0 and received Kodak and AP All American honors in 1999 and 2000.
Randall will try to bring that winning attitude and tradition to Alabama A&M, where she was introduced as the new women’s basketball coach by athletic director Brian Hicks today.
Semeka Randall named new #AAMU women’s basketball coach | al.com al.com/sports/index.s… #THESWAC #HBCU
– Nick Birdsong (@birds_word) May 16, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js“I am very happy Semeka Randall is a Bulldog!” Hicks said. “We expect her to set the tone for our women’s basketball program and take us to the next level. President Hugine, Dr. Rolle, and the Board of Trustees have been very supportive in our pursuit of excellence in athletics. This hire is further proof of that support.”
Randall’s hire comes a little over two months after she was fired from her position as head coach at Ohio University. Randall was 50-112 during her five year stint as coach.
Randall is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2000 with a degree in Speech Communication.
After her college career, she played professionally with the Seattle Storm, Utah Starzz, and the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA, in addition to playing internationally during the WNBA off season.
Randall began her coaching career in 2002 as an assistant with Cleveland State University. By 2004, she was an assistant coach at Michigan State University, and helped the Spartans to the 2004 NCAA Championship game. She also served as an assistant at West Virginia University from 2007-2008.
It’s not every day you get an apple from the Pat Summitt school of coaching. But Randall is coming off a 6-23 season with the Bobcats, so don’t crown the Bulldog champs yet. Hopefully she will yield better results in her second chance as a head coach.