Shea Ralph

Shea Ralph was named the sixth head coach in Vanderbilt women’s basketball history on April 13, 2021. The 2025-26 campaign marks her fifth season leading the Commodores.

Ralph has given the Vanderbilt women’s basketball program a resurgence in her short time in the Music City. Using her experience as a player and coach at one of the premier women’s basketball programs in the nation, Ralph has brought the Commodores back into the forefront of the NCAA women’s basketball landscape.

The Fayetteville, North Carolina, native and UConn graduate guided the Dores to the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24 and 2024-25. It marked the first time that Vanderbilt made consecutive March Madness appearances since earning 15-straight bids from 1999-2014.

Ralph has gone 73-59 (.553) during her time in the Music City and has gone 45-21 (.682) over her last two seasons, which includes 17 victories over SEC teams. She has collected four wins over ranked teams and is the only Vanderbilt women’s basketball head coach to defeat in-state rival Tennessee twice in the same season (2024-25).

Ralph recruited and developed Vanderbilt’s first National Freshman of the Year recipient, as Mikayla Blakes earned the USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year Award in 2024-25.

The fourth-year head coach has developed a pair of All-Americans at Vanderbilt, with both Mikayla Blakes and Khamil Pierre earning All-American status in 2024-25. She has coached a total of three All-SEC players (Mikayla Blakes (1st – 2024-25), Iyana Moore (2nd -2023-24) and Caja Harbison 2nd – 2022-23)) and has had four Commodores named to the All-SEC Freshman Team. Additionally, she has had nine student-athletes selected to the SEC Academic Honor Roll.

In her fourth season in 2024-25, Ralph guided the Commodores to a 22-11 overall record and an 8-8 mark in SEC play. She led Vanderbilt to its second-straight NCAA Tournament, earning an at-large bid as the No. 7 seed in the Birmingham Region 2.

The 22 wins also marked the first time the Commodores posted back-to-back 20-win seasons since the 2011-12 and 2012-13 campaigns. The Dores were ranked in the AP Top 25 and the WBCA Coaches Poll for two weeks during the 2024-25 regular season, marking the first time since 2013-14 that the Commodores have been ranked in both major polls for multiple weeks. Vanderbilt topped out at No. 23 in both polls on Jan. 28.

The Commodores collected three wins over ranked teams in 2024-25, which include a pair of wins over Tennessee, as Vanderbilt defeated the Lady Vols twice in one season for the first time in program history.

Ralph orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in program history during the 2023-24 season, as the Commodores went from being projected last in the SEC preseason polls to earning the program’s first bid into the NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons.

Vanderbilt went 23-10 in Year 3 under Ralph’s direction, as the Commodores made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2013-14 campaign. The 23 wins marked an 11-win improvement from a season ago, which is the second-largest win improvement from one season to the next in program history.

Ralph orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in program history during the 2023-24 season, as the Commodores went from being projected last in the SEC preseason polls to earning the program’s first bid into the NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons.

Vanderbilt went 23-10 in Year 3 under Ralph’s direction, as the Commodores made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2013-14 campaign. The 23 wins marked an 11-win improvement from a season ago, which is the second-largest win improvement from one season to the next in program history.

The Commodores went out and proved the preseason prognosticators wrong in 2023-24, as Vandy finished sixth in the SEC after being picked 13th in the Preseason SEC Coaches Poll and 14th in the Preseason SEC Media Poll. The Dores went 9-7 in SEC play and won a program-record six road SEC games. The nine SEC wins were the most for Vanderbilt since the 2012-13 campaign. The Commodores earned the No. 6 seed in the 2024 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, which was the program’s highest seed at the SEC Tournament since 2011.

Vanderbilt’s at-large bid into the 2024 NCAA Tournament marked the second time in her three seasons that Ralph has led the Commodores to the postseason.

A total of three Commodores earned All-SEC honors in Year 3 under Ralph. Iyana Moore made her first appearance on the All-SEC second team, while Jordyn Cambridge was named to the All-SEC defensive team for a school-record third time. Khamil Pierre was named to the All-SEC freshman team, making her the third Commodore to earn a spot on the team under Ralph, joining Moore and Sacha Washington. Pierre was also named SEC Freshman of the Week a program record five times during the season.

Vanderbilt’s hard-nosed and gritty approach helped the Commodores become one of the elite defensive teams in the SEC, as Vandy ranked third in steals per game at 10.2 steals. The Dores’ 315 steals during the 2023-24 campaign are the third-most in a season in program history.

Vanderbilt was hit hard with a plethora of preseason injuries to begin the 2022-23 campaign. Coach Ralph was able to rally the Commodores and record a second-straight double-digit win season, marking the first time in six years that Vandy has posted back-to-back double-digit win campaigns.

During the 2022-23 campaign, Ralph guided Vanderbilt to a winning record inside Memorial Gymnasium for the 38th time in the last 40 seasons. The Commodores won nine games at Memorial Gym, which included victories over Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

Ralph was key in the development of Ciaja Harbison, who transferred into the program for her graduate season and became one of the most prolific scorers in the SEC. Harbison earned second team All-SEC honors after averaging 19.6 points per game and shot 40.6% from the field. The only player in the SEC to score 40 points in a game this season, Harbison had three outings with 30-plus points among the 23 times she has scored in double figures while recording the highest scoring average of her collegiate career. Harbison has led the Commodores in scoring 16 times, assists on 20 occasions and steals in 15 games. Harbison tied a school record with 41 points and added five steals in a January win over Texas A&M.

In her inaugural season, Ralph led Vanderbilt to its first postseason appearance since 2014. The Commodores reached the third round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, their longest postseason run since 2013. Vanderbilt also recorded its first SEC Tournament victory in six years when it defeated Texas A&M 85-69 on March 2, 2022.

In all, Ralph accrued the third-most wins of any women’s basketball coach in a debut season. That included a 63-59 victory against No. 15 Florida in Memorial Gymnasium on Feb. 24, 2022, the program’s first win against a ranked opponent since 2020.

Ralph wasted no time helping individual student-athletes realize their full potential. Jordyn Cambridge, Iyana Moore and Sacha Washington earned All-SEC accolades during the 2021-22 campaign. Cambridge recorded the program’s first postseason triple-double during the SEC Tournament, while she and Moore contributed to a program-record 17 3-pointers against Alabama State on Dec. 28, 2021.

A seven-time national champion as a student-athlete or coach, Ralph arrived at Vanderbilt after spending the previous 13 seasons as an assistant coach alongside Geno Auriemma at the University of Connecticut. While serving as a coach at her alma mater, Ralph helped guide the Huskies to 12 Final Four appearances and six national championships, including a record four consecutive titles from 2013-16.

Ralph was an instrumental figure in recruiting and player development with the Huskies. She mentored standouts like Paige Bueckers, who in 2020-21 became the first freshman to sweep the major national player-of-the-year awards: the Naismith Trophy, Associated Press Player of the Year, USBWA National Player of the Year, Lieberman Award and Wooden Award.

In all, Ralph worked with 21 WNBA draft picks at UConn, including nine top-five picks and three No. 1 overall selections: Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart.

Prior to returning to UConn as an assistant, Ralph spent five seasons at the University of Pittsburgh from 2003-08. She was instrumental in a period of unprecedented success, helping the Panthers improve from single-digit victories to at least 22 victories in each of her final three seasons. Pitt also reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history in 2008.

As one of the most celebrated student-athletes in women’s basketball history, Ralph ranks eighth in UConn’s storied record book with 1,678 points. She also ranks among the program’s all-time top 10 in career assists (456), steals (252) and field goal percentage (57.9). Ralph graduated from Connecticut in 2001 with a degree in exercise physiology.

In leading UConn to a national championship in 2000, Ralph was named an All-American and Big East Player of the Year. She was selected as the most valuable player in the 2000 NCAA Women’s Final Four. She also won the Honda Award, presented to the premier female student-athlete in 12 collegiate sports, and the “Sports Illustrated for Women” Player of the Year.

Ralph was selected by the Utah Starzz in the 2001 WNBA Draft, but was unable to pursue a professional career due to a knee injury.

Ralph and her husband, Tom Garrick, have one daughter, Maysen. Currently a member of the Vanderbilt coaching staff, Garrick served as head coach of the UMass-Lowell women’s basketball program from 2018-21 and previously served as a Vanderbilt assistant from 2009-15.