The University of Mississippi Athletics
Stollings Accepts Head Coaching Position At Winthrop University
4/12/2011 | Women's Basketball
April 12, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss associate women's basketball coach Marlene Stollings has been named the head coach at Winthrop University, the school announced today.
Stollings, who completed her fourth year at Ole Miss in 2011, was responsible for the Rebels' overall offense as well as oversight of recruiting, scouting and coordination of individual guard development.
"My experiences here at Ole Miss and the last 10 years of coaching have prepared me to make this next step in my career. Ole Miss has left me with some very fond memories of both players and staff and I have enjoyed every minute of being in the SEC," Stollings said. "I could not have asked for a better place to improve my skills as a coach and prepare me to run my own program. Being a head coach has been a long-time ambition and I am grateful Winthrop has given me this great opportunity. I am thrilled about this next step in my career and am eager to jump in and get to work. I will miss many people here but look forward to the new experiences and community I will meet."
Stollings established herself as a passionate and accomplished national recruiter and turned heads with the signing of arguably the best Ole Miss recruiting class in nearly 30 years in 2010. Mississippi native Valencia McFarland, who was ranked as the No. 14 point guard in the nation by ESPN HoopGurlz, was the team's second-leading scorer in 2010-11 and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
In addition to her coaching and recruiting abilities, Stollings is known nationally for her exceptional gift of developing talent, which has helped Ole Miss feature one of the top guard corps in the country. Stollings mentored former Ole Miss guard Bianca Thomas into a 2010 first-round draft pick of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks as well as guard Kayla Melson to Second Team All-SEC and AP All-SEC Second Team honors in 2011.
Stollings was recognized by Nike in 2009 and 2010 as one of the top assistants in the country and received an invitation to attend its prestigious Villa 7 Consortium, an accomplishment reserved for a small group of the country's elite assistant basketball coaches.
As a collegiate player, Stollings was a prolific 3-point shooter and earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors at Ohio University after finishing eighth in the nation and leading the league in scoring at 22.9 points per game her senior year. She graduated with both a B.B.A. in marketing and a B.S. in sports industry from Ohio University in 1998.
