By Bradley D. Duncan
Originally published in Kentucky Woman magazine
As summer turns to fall, sports fans across the nation turn their attentions to (or in the case of diehard baseball fans, split their attentions with) the epitome of American sport ? football.
Yes, even here in the Bluegrass, sports fans enjoy the rituals of the tailgate party, the discussions of who will start at quarterback, or the annual conversations about whether or not the beloved Wildcats will make it to a bowl game.
But as always, minds do not stray too far from the holiest of Kentucky sports ? basketball.
Strolling through the concourses of Commonwealth Stadium, you can read many a banner extolling the history of football at the University of Kentucky, but this season, there is a banner prepping attendees for the upcoming hoops campaign. Sure, Tubby Smith guided the UK men?s basketball team to great heights a year ago. But this banner introduces Cats fans to the newest addition to the hoops family.
?DeMand. DeSire. DeMoss.?
With those words, disciples of the pigskin are introduced to Mickie DeMoss, the new women?s basketball coach at the University of Kentucky.
Since arriving in Lexington last April, DeMoss has had to answer the most obvious question for a person who has spent the last 18 years in Knoxville, Tenn., as an assistant coach on one of the most successful women?s collegiate basketball teams in history ? why UK, why now?
?For 18 years at the University of Tennessee, I had two job offers a year, every other year or so,? DeMoss said. ?There were some very interesting, attractive jobs, but for whatever reason, the position either wasn?t a good fit for me or the timing wasn?t right.?
But UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart convinced DeMoss that the time was right and that Kentucky was the right place. DeMoss said she knew for the past couple of years that she was ready to coach her own team.
?So when I talked to Mitch,? DeMoss said, ?and we talked about goals and expectations, we were very much on the same page. I felt like we were a good fit, and it wasn?t a hard decision at all.?
Before arriving at Tennessee 18 years ago, DeMoss moved around quite a bit. After high school in Tallulah, La., she attended Louisiana Tech, where she was the starting point guard. Upon receiving her bachelor?s degree, she became an assistant at Memphis State in 1977 before heading to the University of Florida in 1979 for her first turn as a head coach.
In 1984, Auburn came calling and DeMoss resumed assistant coach duties. In her two seasons at Auburn, she helped the Tigers to the NCAA tournament, and for the next four years with the players DeMoss helped recruit, AU won 119 games against 13 losses while advancing to two NCAA Final Fours.
Pat Summit, head coach of the UT LadyVols, saw something in DeMoss and brought her on staff in 1986 as an assistant and recruiting coordinator. The Volunteers went on to win six national championships, advance to 13 NCAA Final Fours and produce some of the top players in NCAA history.
Basketball has been a part of DeMoss?s life since she was 12 years old. Growing up in Tallulah, a town of just 6,000 people, there was very little to do.
?I used to play a lot of softball and basketball,? DeMoss said. ?Those were the only two sports my little country town had to offer. We had softball in the summer and basketball once school started. That was really about it.?
DeMoss loved both sports and played in softball summer leagues throughout college. But it was basketball that she devoted most of her time to since Louisiana Tech did not have a softball team.
She did try her hand at other activities, including drama. As a child, DeMoss portrayed Abraham Lincoln as a small boy in a school play. During her school years, she said that she was in every play imaginable, but she got away from it because La. Tech didn?t offer much in that area either.
?I have a little ?artsy? in me,? DeMoss said. ?I loved acting and being in plays. If I had grown up in a bigger city, I might have been able to take some classes. I think I would have really enjoyed that.?
Drama is not the only thing that interests DeMoss. She also is a fan of Jazz music and loves to cook, especially Cajun food. She said that when she moved to Knoxville, it became a necessity to learn how to cook because she just could not find good Cajun food in Tennessee. And when she does go out to eat, she carries her own hot sauce. She learned a lot about cooking from her mother, Wilma, who passed away in recent years.
?My mother was a great cook,? DeMoss said. ?I was able to get some of her recipes and expertise. So I have been able to perfect a few Cajun dishes, but I have also destroyed a few.?
DeMoss also loves to golf because she ?is too old to play anything else,? even though she claims to not be very good at it. The 47-year-old said she always promised herself that she would never take herself too seriously on the links because almost every aspect of the rest of her life is competition, that her profession requires constant competition ? on the court, for funds and in recruiting.
?Don?t get me wrong, though, I love to win,? DeMoss confessed.
However, it was basketball that eventually won out, and taught DeMoss how to accept a challenge and be a winner. As a child, DeMoss was chastised by a teacher for presenting a book report about a story that related an athlete?s success. She was told that she needed to involve herself in more lady-like activities, like learning to be a homemaker. So she accepted the challenge of doing what she was not ?supposed? to do and motivated herself to get where she wanted to go. She marched to the beat of her own drummer and has never regretted it.
?I think more than anything, a challenge inspires me,? DeMoss said. ?Now, I see a challenge in building this program. It?s more than winning, it?s providing these young ladies with an environment that they can excel in. Knowing I can make a difference in their lives in what inspires me, what keeps me working long hours. It?s what keeps me, after 26 years in this profession, motivated.?
This is what she wants to teach her players, the young women who will spend four years of their lives with her. DeMoss said that the one thing she wants these young women to know is the importance of believing in themselves, believing they can accomplish something. She hopes they do not run into the obstacles she had. She wants them to not let anyone discourage them from having big dreams or big plans, and to act on those dreams to make them reality. She wants to lead by example.
Even though winning is not always her ultimate goal, she certainly has done a lot of it. From her years at Louisiana Tech to her years at Auburn and Tennessee, DeMoss has proven she can be a part of a winning team.
Yet, the basketball court is not the only place DeMoss has excelled.
In her first year at UT, DeMoss and the Lady Volunteers traveled to California. While there, the team decided to venture out and take in a taping of ?The Price is Right.? They convinced DeMoss to go, and she subsequently found herself on ?Contestants? Row.?
With the winning bid on a new sofa, DeMoss heard Bob Barker call her up on stage. She proceeded to win her game and move on to win the ?Showcase Showdown.? She claimed a number of prizes that included two motor scooters, a bed, a washer and dryer set, and a trip for two to New Zealand. To this day, she still uses the washer and dryer and has the bed in her guest room.
?I guess the timing was right,? DeMoss said. ?I had just bought a condo in Knoxville, and it was completely unfurnished.?
It seems the timing was just right for the Volunteers, too, as the next 18 years would prove. And maybe now the timing will be right for UK.
?I come from a town of about 6,000 people,? DeMoss said. ?Who would have ever thought when I was 12 or 13 years old growing up in north Louisiana, that I would be where I am today. I can certainly say not many.?
?I think it?s fabulous here,? DeMoss said. ?Coming to Kentucky was a lot easier than I imagined it to be. And that?s because of the people. I think the people in Lexington, the people in the state, the administration here, for me they just made it as easy as they could make it.?
And with arms wide open, the fans of Kentucky say, ?Mickie DeMoss? Come on down!?
