LSU Gold

Carla Berry Season 2023-24

LSU
Carla Berry
Title
Assistant Coach

Carla Berry spent six seasons as an assistant coach for the Lady Tigers, helping guide the program to six NCAA Tournament appearances, four Final Fours and two Southeastern Conference regular season titles.
 
Berry was a guard for the LSU women’s basketball team from 1988-92 and was a member of the 1991 SEC Tournament championship team.

Bringing four years of recruiting experience to the program, Berry joined the accomplished LSU staff that has had eight signing classes rank among the top 20 in the nation over the last 10 years, four of which have been ranked in the top 10. 

Berry was an integral part of signing the 2004 freshman class that included all-Americans Sylvia Fowles, Quianna Chaney and Erica White.

In just her first year on the staff, Berry helped the Lady Tigers sign one of the nation’s top classes that included National High School Player of the Year Seimone Augustus prior to the 2001-02 season.

The opportunity to return to LSU was one that Berry could not pass up after having played for Sue Gunter and the Lady Tigers.  As one of the team’s chief recruiters, her commitment to the program and its success is personal and transcends just her professional obligations as a coach.

As a former LSU player, Berry has the ability to discuss the strengths of the program with recruits and lay out the opportunities LSU has to offer its student-athletes. 

Berry, an Academic All-SEC selection in 1992, helped LSU advance to three NCAA Tournament appearances and was a part of the Lady Tigers’ 1991 SEC Tournament Championship team.  In 1993, she earned her bachelor’s degree in advertising.

After graduating, she returned home to Alabama where she spent one season as a graduate assistant coach for the University of South Alabama in 1993-94.  Berry then took a position as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in 1994 as the Lady Mustangs made the difficult transition from NCAA Division II to Division I competition.

Taking a position at St. John’s University in 1995, she spent three years with the women’s basketball program as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator, working with current Lady Tiger administrative assistant Joe Carvalhido.  Coaching a team that was in the process of rebuilding, the program showed improvement each year she was there, including a 13-win season in her final year.  Additionally, in her three seasons at St. John’s, the Red Storm penned a pair of recruiting classes ranked in the top 50 nationally, including one top 25 class that included former Lady Tiger and retired Washington Mystic Aiysha Smith.

In addition to her recruiting responsibilities at LSU, Berry will also oversee academics for the Lady Tigers. Working closely with the Cox Communication Academic Center for Student-Athletes, she will help coordinate study hall and tutoring, while monitoring the academic progress for the student-athletes. Her primary on-court assignment will be coaching LSU’s guards.

Berry spent two years working in sales for Cingular Wireless (formerly BellSouth Mobility) in her hometown of Mobile, Ala., prior to joining the Lady Tigers staff. She took the two years off from coaching to assist with an illness in the family.

Birthdate: January 6, 1970
Hometown: Mobile, Ala.
College: LSU, 1993

Coaching Experience:
1993-94 – Graduate Assistant, South Alabama
1994-95 – Recruiting Coordinator, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo;
1995-98 – Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator – St. John’s University
1999 – 2007  Assistant Coach – LSU

Playing Experience:
1989-92 –  Guard, LSU