Tiger women’s basketball staff brings new energy to Mizzou Arena

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Even as the dog days of summer are approaching, there seems to be a different energy within the walls of Mizzou Arena, as a new era will begin in a little more than five months time.

First-year Mizzou women's basketball coach Kellie Harper is in the midst of preparing for her debut season in Columbia and she's done a lot of the leg work, already. She's brought players in from the transfer portal, held onto some key pieces from the 2024-25 Tiger roster and assembled a coaching staff that could prove to be a difference-maker.

Coach Harper hit the ground running with her staff, quickly hiring assistant coaches Jennifer Sullivan, Kenzie Kostas and Liza Fruendt, right off the bat. Soon after, she added another pair of assistants in former Arkansas associate head coach Todd Schaefer and former Georgia Tech assistant Michael Scruggs.

In a lot of ways, a coaching staff can make or break a team and, in Mizzou's case, this one may just be a game-changer.

"I think the thing that Kellie does a terrific job is I think she does a great job hiring and I'm not just saying that because I'm here," Sullivan said. "I think she puts together phenomenal staff. So, if you look at her track record with her staff, she's had assistants that have been with her long periods of time, which in this day and age is kind of uncommon. You have a lot of coaches that are here and there, but she's had coaches that have been with her for seven years or six years, five years, that type of thing. I think she does a really good job of making everyone feel valued, giving everyone their role and letting them be the head coach in their area, so to speak."

You can watch the full interview with Sullivan in the video player below.

Outside of both Schaefer and Scruggs, Harper has worked with or coached each member of her staff.

Sullivan has been with Harper the longest, serving as an assistant coach on her staffs at both Missouri State (2013-18) and Tennessee (2019-21). She said is a was a no-brainer for her to leave her head coaching role at Florida Atlantic University and reunite with this team.

However, she did note that her time as a head coach changed her perspective on being an assistant, quite a bit.

"Oh man, I'm going to be a phenomenal assistant," she said. "I enjoyed it so much, but I think I have a unique perspective because I was an assistant for Kellie for a long time and I thought I did a good job, and she always told me that I did, but now I know how to do even better job because I know all that she's carrying and I admire her more because I got to see what she carried....So, just being able to take things off her plate, things that don't matter...She does a really good job of keeping things in perspective, but just kind of managing our staff in a way that will allow her to just be her and not worry about the little things too much."

Kostas reunited with Coach Harper after playing for her at Missouri State, where she spent the last three seasons on staff with the Lady Bears. In her time away from Harper, Kostas said she always followed her career from afar and now it's a surreal feeling to be back apart of it.

The Mount Vernon, Missouri native has made a few stops in her young assistant coaching career, including spending time with Coach Sullivan at Florida Atlantic through the 2021-22 season. Kostas is also very familiar with Fruendt, as the two played together, for Harper, at Missouri State.

Kostas said there is a ton of great basketball players in Missouri, which excited her for this new role.

"I'm really excited about to continue to recruit in the state. I think Coach Kellie has talked to a lot of good high school players already. You know, fortunate to have some on our team already from the area. So, as a kid who grew up playing in Missouri, as well, it's cool to be able to have the opportunity to keep them home," Kostas said.

You can watch the full interview with Kostas in the video player below.

Fruendt is back with Coach Harper, after playing for her at Missouri State and serving as an assistant coach on her Tennessee staff from 2020 to 2023. She said that Harper brings a unique passion to the court that she's excited for these Tiger players to get to witness first-hand.

"She just really is one of a kind. I could talk about her all day and not even in just a corny way. Just like as a boss and as a coworker, but also just like a friend and a mentor. Somebody that's always taking care of me as a player, but also now as an adult," Fruendt said. "I just think her charisma and her basketball brain and smarts is just something that's really unique. It's a really unique blend that you just don't see a lot in coaching and it was just an opportunity that I couldn't turn down."

You can watch the full interview with Fruendt in the video player below.

Sullivan, Kostas and Fruendt all emphasized how good of a foundation they are beginning with in this Mizzou women's hoops program.

The Tigers managed to keep returners Grace Slaughter, Abbey Schreacke, Averi Kroenke, Hannah Lintahcum and Ma'Riya Vincent, while also grabbing six players from the transfer portal. The assistants love the mix of players that they have, as this group looks to implement a fast and exciting brand of basketball in Columbia.

Slaughter, a rising junior, will be the centerpiece of the 2025-26 Tiger team and it sounds like she's made quite an impression on each and every member of this staff.

"I have been so impressed with Grace. I've gotten the opportunity to work with her, pretty much every day this offseason that we were here and she is unique. She is an extremely hard worker, but she has such a wide range of skill set. I think that's what we're really excited about. Obviously, we know she can score, but also pushing her weaknesses into strengths and really trying to just keep capitalizing to make her a pro. I think, that's one of our strengths as a staff is we've had a lot of different pros...She's going to be the next one. I think, really pushing her into to keep capitalizing on that skill set. So we're really, really excited about Grace," Fruendt said.

The staff is also excited about the wide variety of portal players they brought in, each of which can score the basketball.

Sullivan believes this coaching staff's closeness and cohesion has been the game-changer on the recruiting front.

"I mean it's just relationships. It's basically just falling in love with people and sometimes it works out where they're part of your family for the next four-plus years and sometimes it doesn't. But, we've gotten a chance to be a part of their their lives, their families, their siblings and it's just understanding and learning their story and see if this is a fit," she said. "Then when they become part of our family, they're with us for the rest of their life. So, I think we really passionately believe that and how important it is."

The Mizzou women's assistants all noted how great it is to be surrounded by a passionate fanbase, in Columbia, as well. They know that fans of Tiger women's basketball want a return to relevancy and they're assembling a team that will work to do that.