Coppin State’s Ready Is Rarity Coaching Division I Basketball

BALTIMORE —  Stephanie Ready knew upon accepting the job that she was joining a very discriminating fraternity. It wasn’t until several months later that she fully realized the exclusivity of her profession.

Coppin State University was playing a basketball game in New York against St. John’s when, during a timeout, Ready pulled back from the huddle and cast a furtive glance from her perch at the bench.

“I took one look around the gym and I was literally the only woman on the court,” she recalled. “All the players, coaches and officials were men. The people at the scoring table were all men, too.

“That’s when I really understood what a big deal it is. Before that point, I just felt like another coach.”

The 24-year-old Ready is not just another coach. As an assistant to Coppin State coach Fang Mitchell, she is the lone woman in NCAA Division I basketball employed as a coach of a men’s team. She is only the second woman to serve in that capacity, following former Kentucky assistant Bernadette Mattox.

Ready, who played basketball and volleyball for the Eagles, was hired as the school’s head volleyball coach just three months after graduating cum laude from Coppin with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in May 1998.

In the final match of her first season, Coppin defeated the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore to end a 129-game losing streak.

A few months later Mitchell, who also serves as the athletic director, needed another assistant basketball coach, one who could help him improve on last season’s disappointing 15-14 record.

His search didn’t extend beyond the tiny inner-city campus.

“I’m not one who looks at race or gender as a deterrent to a person’s ability to do something,” said Mitchell, who has taken the Eagles to three NCAA tournaments and two NITs.

“I saw Stephanie’s drive and organizational skills working with the volleyball program. Given the maturity she possessed at her age, it just became simple to me--this was the person to hire.”

Ready accepted the challenge, knowing that she would have to endure 12-hour days when volleyball and basketball seasons overlap in October and November. She figured it would be no more difficult than her days as a student, when she played two sports, volunteered as a peer counselor, and was a freshman mentor and vice president of the psychology club.

“I feel this is the point in my life when I should try to do as much as I can, to take advantage of everything I can get my hands on,” Ready said.

The basketball players quickly accepted her, although there was a period of adjustment in terms of locker-room etiquette.

“After our first exhibition game, I just walked in without thinking about it,” Ready recalled. “I immediately thought, ‘Uh oh, I shouldn’t have done that.’ They were already starting to get undressed, and Coach Fang goes, ‘What are you doing? You know there’s a woman in here.”’

The players now wait until after the coach’s postgame talk before disrobing.

During games, Ready busily chews gum while recording fouls, charting defensive alignments and offering encouragement. At practice she’s as frank as the rest of the coaches, but finds a way to temper any criticism.

“She’s always positive, no matter what,” reserve center Tyran Watkins said.

Similarly, Mitchell has nothing but good things to say about his new assistant coach.

“I tell her to put a little more bass in her voice when she talks to the boys and she has. I’m appreciative of that,” he said with a wry smile.

“Really though, she has brought some organization to our program. She’s gained the respect of the players with her knowledge and take-charge attitude.”

As if Ready doesn’t have enough to do, she plans to return to school to earn a master’s degree in marketing. When she finishes that, it will be time to make a career choice.

“Even if I don’t end up being a basketball coach,” she said, “this is still making me stronger and better for whatever it is that I end up doing.”