TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —— Florida A&M’s Vice President & Director of Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes named Lady Vols basketball legend Bridgette Gordon as the women’s basketball head coach, announced Friday, July 28, 2023.
“I am thrilled to welcome Bridgette Gordon as the next head coach of FAMU Women’s Basketball,” said Sykes. “She is well connected and well respected in the basketball community. Her experiences as an athlete and coach, along with her commitment to academic excellence and integrity, make her the perfect fit for the nation’s #1 Public HBCU.
“I am excited about this new chapter for the FAMU women’s basketball program, and I am confident that Coach Gordon will significantly impact our program’s future success.”
“First, I would like to thank God for blessing me with this opportunity,” said Head Coach Bridgette Gordon. “I would also like to thank my mother and the rest of my family for their love and support over the years. Thank you for believing in me and praying for the desires of my heart to be a Head Coach and witnessing today that dream come true.
“It is a tremendous honor and accomplishment to be selected to lead a group of young ladies for this prestigious University. I got into coaching because I love to coach basketball, I love to teach, and I love to make people better. That’s exactly who I am, who I have been, and who I will be as your head coach of the Rattlers women’s basketball team. Special thanks go out to Athletic Director Tiffani-Dawn Sykes And President Robinson.”
Former Lady Vols basketball legend and 2007 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee Gordon becomes the eighth women’s basketball head coach in Florida A&M history.
Gordon has built quite the basketball resume throughout her illustrious career as a player and coach. She attended the University of Tennessee from 1985-89, where she played under the late great Pat Summitt. During that span, Gordon went to four consecutive Final Fours, won two national championships (1987, 1989), a Final Four MVP (1989), SEC Female Athlete of the Year and SEC Player of the Year (1989), Four Time All-SEC First Team selection, 1986 SEC Freshman of the Year, two SEC Tournament MVP’s (1988, 1989), two-time Kodak and Naismith All-American, she won a gold medal for Team USA at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. She was eventually named to the NCAA 25th anniversary Team and Team of the Decade in the 1980s.
After wrapping up her career at Tennessee, Gordon played professional ball in the Italian and Turkish leagues overseas, where she won two FIBA European Cups (1994, 1995). She also played in the WNBA for the Sacramento Monarchs from 1997-98 before ending her playing career in 2000. In 2001, Gordon was rightfully inducted into the University of Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame and later into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2007) and State of Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (2012).
Gordan began her coaching career in 2004, where she spent two years as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, before leaving to become a WNBA regional scout in 2006.
In 2007, Gordon returned to coaching Division I when she accepted a position at Georgia State to work under then-head coach Robert Murphy. She spent the next three seasons as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator for the Panthers before leaving in 2010 to work at Wichita State, where she would work under fellow former Lady Vol, Jody Adams.
Together, the pair would completely transform the Shocker program, leading them to unprecedented success in their seven years together. From 2010-17, the Shockers posted a 139-88 overall record, leading to five straight postseason appearances from 2010-15, which included three-straight MVC regular season and tournament titles from 2013-15, resulting in three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Adams and Gordon produced nine First Team All-MVC honorees, including 2015 MVC Player of the Year Alex Harden, who eventually went on to get drafted to the WNBA when the Phoenix Mercury selected her in the second round of the 2015 WNBA Draft.
After her time in Wichita was concluded, Gordon went on to coach at her alma mater Tennessee as an assistant under head coach Holly Warlick, where she helped the Volunteers to two NCAA Tournament appearances (2018, 2019) in her two years with the program.
In 2019, she left Tennessee to become an assistant at SMU, where she worked for one season before her second season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gordon spent the 2021-22 season at Kansas State, where she helped the team to a 20-13 overall record, leading them to their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2016, when they beat Washington State in the first round.
After one season in Manhattan, Gordon went on to coach at Cincinnati, where she was an assistant for the 2022-23 season.
Bridgette Gordon had a short stint at New Mexico State on Jody Adams’ staff, joining the team in June 2023.
Coach Gordon’s official start date is set for August 14, 2023.