Mickie DeMoss Season 2024-25
Second Season at LSU
Coach Nikki Fargas may have landed one of her most heralded recruits yet in May 2016 when collegiate coaching veteran Mickie DeMoss joined the Lady Tigers as an assistant coach. With 39 years of experience on the sidelines on the collegiate and professional levels, DeMoss no doubt brings a wealth of knowledge with her to the Lady Tiger basketball program.
DeMoss’ impressive resume includes 20 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach under Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee, four seasons as the head coach at the University of Kentucky and a two-year stint as an assistant with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. She joins the Lady Tigers after serving the previous two years as the associate head coach at her alma mater Louisiana Tech University.
Fargas and DeMoss have extensive history from their days in Knoxville, Tenn., as DeMoss was an assistant coach when Fargas played for the Lady Vols (1990-94) and the pair were on Summitt’s staff together from 2002-03. DeMoss also coached current LSU assistants Tasha Butts and Charlene Thomas-Swinson. She was an assistant at Auburn when Thomas-Swinson lettered for the Tigers and was associate head coach at UT during Butts’ career.
Immediately prior to returning to the collegiate coaching ranks at Louisiana Tech, DeMoss was an assistant coach for the Indiana Fever in 2012 and 2013 and helped guide the franchise to the 2012 WNBA championship.
She was lured away by the WNBA following her second stint at UT. She was with the Lady Vols from 1985-2003 and then again from 2010-12. During a span from 1985-86 to 2002-03, DeMoss helped lead the Lady Vols to six national titles and 12 trips to the Final Four. During her first 18 seasons at UT, the Lady Vols amassed a 554-77 (.878) overall record. DeMoss was promoted to associate head coach in 2000, but stepped aside three years later to lead her own program. She served four years with record-breaking results as the head coach at Kentucky.
In four seasons at Kentucky, she guided the Wildcats to a 71-56 record including consecutive 20-win seasons and three postseason appearances (one NCAA and two WNIT).
The 2006 SEC Coach of the Year, DeMoss guided the 22-9 Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven seasons and punctuated the trip with an NCAA win. The breakout year also included a victory over No. 1-ranked Tennessee, 66-63, in front of a school-record crowd of 13,689 at Rupp Arena. It marked the first win over a top-ranked team in UK history. In 2006-07, Kentucky was 20-14 and advanced to the WNIT. That season, DeMoss’ Cats attracted a school record attendance of 5,863 fans per game.
DeMoss elected to step aside as head coach at Kentucky in April 2007, but her coaching hiatus was short-lived as she accepted a position at Texas in the summer of 2007. She was the Longhorns’ top recruiter while also coaching the post game for three seasons under Gail Goestenkors.
At the request of her long-time mentor, DeMoss returned to Knoxville in the spring of 2010 to serve on Summitt’s staff for the final two seasons of the legendary coach’s career with the Lady Vols. She helped lead the 2010-11 squad to a 34-3 record, including an undefeated 16-0 showing in the SEC. In her last two seasons at UT, the Lady Vols amassed a 61-12 record and made appearances in two Region Final games.
Over the past three decades, DeMoss has cemented a reputation as one of the country’s most elite coaches. A survey of the nation’s NCAA Division I women’s head basketball coaches tabbed her as the top assistant in the country in 2000. She also garnered that distinction from a 1998 The Women’s Basketball Journal poll.
While at UT, DeMoss was considered a great technical mind, floor coach and entertainer. Off the court, she was regarded as one of the best recruiters in the college game, year after year recruiting future All-SEC and All-America award-winners, while stockpiling rosters with the kind of players essential to winning national championships.
Some of DeMoss’ most notable recruits at Tennessee include: Tonya Edwards, the 1987 Final Four MVP, Dena Head, the 1992 SEC Player of the Year, Chamique Holdsclaw, the 1996 and 1997 Final Four MVP, and Tamika Catchings, a four-time All-American and star of the Indiana Fever.
Noted for her success coaching post players, DeMoss protégés have represented Team USA in every Olympic Games since 1992.
Prior to joining the Tennessee staff in 1985, DeMoss had been an assistant coach at Auburn University (1983-85), a head coach at the University of Florida (1979-83) and an assistant at then-Memphis State (1977-79).
DeMoss was a player on the inaugural Lady Techster team in 1974 and lettered for the first three years of the program’s existence. She was the very first point guard in the history of the program.
A native of Delhi, La., DeMoss received her undergraduate degree in physical education from Louisiana Tech in 1977. She later received her master’s degree in education at Memphis State University in 1979.
The Mickie DeMoss File
Birthdate: October 3, 1955
Hometown: Delhi, La.
Education: Louisiana Tech, 1977 (Physical Education); Memphis State, 1979 (Education)
Twitter: @DeMossMickie
PLAYING EXPERIENCE
YEAR, TEAM
1974-77, Louisiana Tech
COACHING EXPERIENCE
YEAR, POSITION, SCHOOL
1977-79, Assistant Coach, Memphis State
1979-83, Head Coach, Florida
1983-85, Assistant Coach, Auburn
1985-2000, Assistant Coach, Tennessee
2000-03, Associate Head Coach, Tennessee
2003-07, Head Coach, Kentucky
2007-10, Assistant Coach, Texas
2010-12, Assistant Coach, Tennessee
2012-13, Assistant Coach, WNBA’s Indiana Fever
2014-16, Associate Head Coach, Louisiana Tech
2016-present, Assistant Coach, LSU