Shea Ralph
Shea Ralph
Head Coach for Vanderbilt Women's Basketball
College Basketball Career
Shea, a former UCONN basketball player, was captain of Connecticut's 2000 NCAA National Championship
Team and recognized as the 2000 Big East Player of the Year.
That same year Shea was named Sports Illustrated for Women Player of the Year.
Shea graduated from UConn ranked among the program's top-10 career leaders in assists (456), steals (252) and field goal percentage.
The Olympics
After being named most valuable player, Shea played on the USA Basketball 2000 Jones Cup Team
that won the Olympic Gold Medal in Taiwan. Ralph was the team's leading scorer in those Olympic games!
Coaching
After several seasons as assistant coach at UConn, leading the Huskies to 13 straight NCAA Final Fours, 25 conference championships and six NCAA titles, Shea is now the head coach at Vanderbilt University.
In her own words...
“It's the type of job that makes you just pinch yourself every morning to remind yourself how cool it really is to come here. And it's been that way for me for
almost 20 years now.”
Q & A
What do you love about your job?
One of the greatest blessings is to be able to coach for a living. I have a unique connection to my job because I also played UCONN basketball, so I understand how challenging it is for these young athletes on a daily basis. There’s a lot of things that I struggled with when I played here, so in my job I hope to help these girls struggle a little less.
What would you like the next generation of girls to know, especially those considering a career in athletics?
It’s not easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding. And sometimes that idea gets lost because there is so much instant gratification today. I fully support honoring those who are participating in athletics, but if you don’t put in the work to excel, then you’re not going to get rewarded for it.
What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be so many different things-- everything from a doctor to a yoga instructor to a Rockette! I was simply inspired by people who were great at what they did. I knew whatever I did, I wanted to be great at it.
"It’s a really good thing to start at the bottom and work up towards something.
It’s usually the things you work hardest for that are the things that mean the most to you."