A week and a half ago, new Lady Vols head basketball coach Kellie Harper officially made her first two hires to her initial assistant coaching staff at Tennessee. On Thursday, she made her final hire for her staff and rounded out her coaching bench.
Tennessee announced on Thursday that Harper has hired Lacey Goldwire to serve as her third and final assistant coach at Tennessee. Goldwire joins the Lady Vols after having spent two years with the women’s basketball team at Arkansas. Goldwire joins the previously announced Jon Harper (Kellie’s husband) and Jennifer Sullivan on staff at UT.
Goldwire, a native of Oklahoma City, has been an assistant coach for seven seasons prior to joining the Lady Vols, and she has two years of experience in the SEC.
“We are very excited to be adding Lacey Goldwire to our coaching staff,” Harper said via a release. “Lacey is a person of high character and has a wonderful personality. She is a terrific recruiter and has knowledge and experience in the SEC that will prove to be very beneficial for our program.”
Goldwire was a key assistant at Arkansas in her two years there. Mike Neighbors hired her for his initial staff when he was hired as head coach, and after going 13-18 in the 2017-18 season, the Razorbacks went 22-15 this past season and made it to the finals of the SEC Tournament and the quarterfinals of the WNIT Tournament. Arkansas also defeated the Lady Vols this season in Knoxville, 80-79.
Prior to her time at Arkansas, Goldwire was an assistant coach at Iowa for four seasons, helping the Hawkeyes reach the NCAA Tournament twice and make a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2015. She worked with Iowa’s guards and served as their recruiting coordinator as well. While at Iowa, Goldwire helped coach consensus All-American Samantha Logic.
Goldwire was also an assistant at Morehead State for a season before joining Iowa. Prior to that, she was a student assistant and grad assistant at Oklahoma State.
As a player for East Central University in Oklahoma, Goldwire was a standout performer, finishing fifth in career scoring with 1,340 points. As a senior, Goldwire averaged 21.1 points and 5.9 rebounds and was voted the Lone Star Conference North Co-Player of the Year and Second-Team All-South Central Region. She was named ECU’s Athlete of the Year in 2007-08 as well.
Kellie Harper’s initial assistant coaching staff at Tennessee is now set, and she and the Lady Vols will now enter the offseason heading into her first year as head coach.
