McLean County Times

Illinois State women's basketball head coach Kristen Gillespie has signed a one-year contract extension to remain the Redbirds' head coach through the 2028-29 season, ISU Interim Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs announced Monday.

Gillespie has guided Illinois State to a 132-82 record in seven seasons at the helm of the program. Under her leadership, Illinois State has earned four consecutive postseason bids, including the program's first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 14 years during the 2021-22 campaign. Last season, Illinois State posted a 22-12 record, marking consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since 2009-10 and 2010-11. This achievement followed Illinois State's first MVC Regular Season title since 2010 during the 2022-2023 campaign. For her efforts, Gillespie was named MVC Coach of the Year, becoming the first Illinois State selection since Stephanie Glance received the honor in 2012.

Since 2020-2021, the Redbirds lead all women's basketball programs in Illinois with 81 total wins and a 64.8 winning percentage.

"Thank you to President Tarhule, Dr. Beggs and Leanna Bordner for their continued support of our program and the trust they have placed in me," Gillespie said. "I absolutely love being a Redbird and being ingrained in the BloNo community. I look forward to adding more championships to the rich tradition that Jill Hutchison started 50 years ago."

When Gillespie was brought on in 2017, the team was coming off three straight single-digit win seasons and a 2-28 campaign in 2014-15. She turned in ISU's first winning season in six years during her second season and went on to post back-to-back 19-win campaigns during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons before finally earning an invitation to the WNIT in 2021, marking the Redbirds' first postseason appearance in eight years. The year 2024 marked Illinois State's third bid to the WNIT under Gillespie.

"Our women's basketball program has been one of the most consistently successful in our department for the past several seasons, and much of that is due to the leadership and guidance Kristen provides," ISU Interim Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs said. "In her seven seasons as leader of our program, Kristen has led her teams to six-straight winning seasons, multiple championships, postseason appearances and national prominence. She has been a tremendous leader and mentor for our student-athletes, building relationships on and off the court that will last well into the future. We have no doubts that this program will have continued success in future seasons, and we will support her and her staff in any way we can."

Gillespie has coached fifteen All-MVC selections at ISU including four MVC Newcomers of the Year (Simone Goods, TeTe Maggett, Juliunn Redmond, Paige Robinson), an MVC Sixth Player of the Year (Redmond), an MVC Most Improved Player (Mary Crompton), a two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Crompton), an MVC Tournament Most Outstanding Player (Redmond) and most recently an MVC Jackie Stiles Player of the Year (Robinson). Robinson also became Illinois State’s first women’s basketball player selected in WNBA Draft history when she was picked by Dallas Wings as their third-round selection at thirty-first overall pick.

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