[autotag]Sytia Messer[/autotag], a former athlete for Arkansas Women’s Basketball and longtime assistant coach under Kim Mulkey during her time at Baylor and LSU, has been named the head basketball coach at UCF.
Messer spent one season at LSU, where she served as associate head coach under Mulkey. In that one season, the Tigers finished 26-6 with an appearance in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, a complete turnaround from the 9-13 record that LSU finished with in the 2020-21 season.
Most of Messer’s coaching success happened while she was at Baylor, coaching under Mulkey for the final eight seasons that she was in Waco. While at Baylor, the Bears won eight regular-season Big 12 championships, six Big 12 tournament championships, and one national title.
Messer, a native of Waldo, Ark. was inducted into the Razorbacks Hall of Honor in 2018 after an illustrious career at Arkansas, where she was a member of the 1998 Final Four squad, and the 1999 team that won the Women’s NIT. She played in 128 games as a Razorback, starting in 96 of those.
Messer is the second head coach at UCF with Arkansas ties. Knights head football coach Gus Malzahn is an Arkansas high school coaching legend and served as offensive coordinator for the Razorbacks in 2006.
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