Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Women's Basketball Head Coach
- Email:
- kempera@marshall.edu
- Phone:
- 5448
Tony Kemper enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Marshall women’s basketball team in 2022-23 after being elevated to the position in March of 2017. Kemper had previously been an assistant coach with the women’s program for five seasons before taking over.
For the 2021-22 season, Kemper brought in some great talent from the transfer portal in graduate transfers Aaliyah Dunham and Brianah Ferby who starred for the Herd. Dunham led Conference and ranked 18th in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.47. Her national ranking was the highest by a Marshall player going back through 2009-10. Dunham also ended the season named to the C-USA All-Academic Team. Ferby provided an offensive spark from the outside and hit many clutch shots. Ferby lit up Florida Atlantic for 15 of her season-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as Marshall came from behind for the road win.
The 2021-22 Herd set a team record for the fewest turnovers per game at just 12.7, which led the league and ranked 22nd in the nation. Marshall also led C-USA in fewest total turnovers (355) which ranked ninth in the NCAA.
Coach Kemper’s squad competed hard on the road against Purdue and Michigan State of the Big Ten and ended the regular season with back-to-back wins over perennial C-USA leader WKU. Savannah Wheeler led the league in scoring (20.3 ppg) and went off for 40 points against Oakland in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic. Wheeler became the first Herd player to score 40 in a game since Marshall Hall of Famer Kristina Behnfeldt in 1999. Wheeler was named First Team All-Conference USA.
Kemper helped the Thundering Herd navigate the COVID-19-riddled 2020-21 campaign, which yielded second-team All-Conference USA acclaim for Savannah Wheeler and signature home wins over perennial league stalwarts WKU in January and Rice in late February.
Kemper earned his first Conference USA tournament win after defeating Southern Miss 71-67 in the first round of the 2019-20 tournament. The tournament was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kemper led the 2019-20 Thundering Herd collected numerous conference awards. Freshman guard Savannah Wheeler was named to the 2019-20 C-USA All-Freshman Team. Wheeler was also named C-USA Freshman of the Week twice.
Kemper led the Herd through a great improvement in his second season. He has brought some added excitement to the program as the attendance average for Marshall rose from 641 in 2016-17 to 1,153 in 2018-19. Kemper’s 2019 recruiting class also ranked in the top 60 nationally.
After going 9-20 overall and 3-13 in C-USA in 2017-18, Marshall was predicted to finish 13th in the Conference USA 2018-19 preseason polls. Instead, the Herd rolled out an 8-win improvement overall and 7-wins better in conference play finishing 17-15 and 10-6 in C-USA, securing the No. 6 seed in the tournament. The 10 conference victories were the most C-USA wins for Marshall in program history. Following the conference tournament, the Herd earned a berth in the WBI, just the fourth postseason trip in program history. Marshall won its first round game 67-64 at Davidson before falling in the second round.
Following the 2021-22 season, Kemper increased his overall record to 62-76.
During the 2018-19 season, Marshall was fifth in the conference in points per game (67.3) and led the league in 3-point field goals made per game in conference action (8.9). The Herd also saw an increase in defensive production as Marshall was ranked 13th in C-USA in field goal percentage allowed in 2017-18 but jumped up to fifth in 2018-19. The Herd saw senior Taylor Porter honored twice as a Conference USA Player of the Week including once after breaking the Marshall single-game record draining 10 3-pointers in the senior day win over FIU.
Senior Shayna Gore was named First Team All-Conference USA. Gore was previously honored as Second Team All-Conference USA in 2017-18. The senior guard capped off her prestigious career under the guide of Kemper as just the third player in program history to score over 2,000 points (2,081). Her name can be found all throughout the record book including the program’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals made with 303, more than twice the previous record of 146.
The Herd reached some other milestones in 2018-19 including earning a three-overtime victory at home against Louisiana Tech (Jan. 24). It was one of three overtime victories in 2018-19 after going 131 games – second-longest active streak in the NCAA at the time – without even playing an overtime contest. Marshall also earned its first win over Charlotte in the last 10 meetings (Jan. 5) and the team’s first ever win over Middle Tennessee (Feb. 16) as Marshall was previously 0-8 against the Blue Raiders.
Kemper’s teams have had major success in the classroom as well with 14 college graduates over the last four years. The team’s overall grade point average in 2017-18 was 3.23 and climbed up to 3.28 in 2108-19. The overall GPA for 2019-20 was 3.21. His players have been honored 40 times on the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll (cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better) and 18-time recipients of the C-USA Academic Medal for maintaining a GPA of 3.75 or higher. The Herd's overall team GPA jumped up to 3.49 in 2021-22 as 14 of Kemper's 15 players on the roster were on the Commissioner's Honor roll.
During his first five seasons at Marshall as an assistant coach, Kemper has assisted in rebuilding a program that progressively increased its win total over the first four seasons - from 9 to 11 to 17 to 21 wins in the 2015-16 season. That 2015-16 win total was the most for Thundering Herd Women’s Basketball in 29 seasons and, for the first time in school history, yielded a first-team All-Conference USA student-athlete for Marshall in Leah Scott.
He helped lead Marshall to two of only three postseason berths in the program’s NCAA history, including its first postseason win in 2014-15 (WBI) and WNIT berth in 2015-16.
Kemper has also been heavily involved in the Thundering Herd’s recruiting and academic success, helping sign the 34th-ranked class in 2017 and its group in 2015, which came in 52nd.
In the classroom, the program has placed 28 members on the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll (3.0 cumulative GPA or better) and three more were given the Commissioner’s Academic Medal (3.75).
Kemper came to Marshall from Central Arkansas, where he coached with now-former Marshall head coach Matt Daniel for three seasons.
“I am very appreciative and excited for the opportunity to lead the women’s basketball program at Marshall,” said Kemper. “I want to thank our President, Dr. Jerry Gilbert, Mike Hamrick and (Senior Women’s Administrator) Beatrice Crane Banford for trusting in my ability to continue the progress our program made under Coach Daniel.”
“It is such a privilege to continue working with student-athletes who I have had a hand in recruiting to Huntington, a community that my family values greatly. There are many good people and players here now, and also on the way, who can help make us a consistent winner.”
At UCA, Kemper helped the Sugar Bears to their first Division I conference title and three seasons of at least 21 wins.
His tutelage of inside players helped gain two Southland Player of the Year honors and a Defensive Player of the Year.
Before joining the women’s staff, Kemper served as an assistant coach for the Central Arkansas men’s basketball program for four years.
Two professional players emerged from UCA during those seasons -- the leading scorer in Portugal’s Proliga pro league in 2011, Nate Bowie, and professional center Durell Nevels.
Prior to UCA, Kemper was an assistant coach at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College - one of the nation’s most successful junior college programs.
At Hutchinson, he oversaw day-to-day operations and directed the Blue Dragons’ strength and conditioning efforts while also serving as a mathematics and physical education instructor.
The Logan, Kansas, native also held the head coaching spot at Quivira Heights High School in Bushton in 2003-04, guiding QHHS to a No. 1 seed to the regional tournament.
His coaching career began in 2002-03 as an assistant at Hill City (Kansas) High School.
“The best person for this job is Tony Kemper,” said Hamrick. “He is a man of character who has been instrumental in the program’s growth over the past five seasons. Marshall Women’s Basketball will be in good hands under his leadership.”
Kemper received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Fort Hays State University in 2001 and a BBA in Business Education in 2003. He also earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Fort Hays in 2008.
Kemper and his wife Sandra, a professor at Marshall in the Communications Disorders Department, live in Huntington with sons Brayden and Landry and daughter Jolie.
You can follow Coach Kemper on twitter at @coachtonykemper.
