Last year, Katie Gearlds led Marian University’s women’s basketball team to a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II championship. It was her third year as a coach.
Now entering her fourth year as a coach, Gearlds has a reputation for being tough but caring. Her former coaches helped shape her coaching style, but it all began with Beech Grove High School coach Dawn McNew.
“The biggest thing she taught me is how to communicate to the players,” Gearlds said.
Though strategy and planning were important to the job, she explained, “coaching is all about relationships. If you can build a relationship with your team and get that family atmosphere and you let your players in, they’re going to trust you.”
In 2003, the Hornets had that family atmosphere. And it took them to the state championship, where they won the title in double overtime in front of 8,000 fans.
“Our team that year really took a lot of pride in bringing the city of Beech Grove together,” Gearlds said. She was a senior then. “Those are memories that I hold with me very dear to my heart, and ones I’ll never let go of.”
McNew’s guidance would continue to be part of Gearlds’ life after high school.
“As a player at Purdue (University), I can remember multiple times when I struggled offensively or wasn’t playing the way I should’ve been playing,” Gearlds said. “It didn’t take me picking up the phone to call (McNew). She called me.”
After blazing a path through Indiana basketball, Gearlds was selected by the Seattle Storm as the seventh overall pick in the WNBA draft. She played three seasons for the Seattle Storm and six in Europe as a professional.
Her Marian University team will start this season ranked No. 1 in the nation and look to duplicate last year’s championship. One of her assistant coaches, Mark Parker, coached her at Beech Grove.
“I love Beech Grove. I don’t live far from Beech Grove. If they asked me to do something, I’d do it in a second,” Gearlds said.
Originally published in Southside Times, 2016. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.