Joni Taylor (née Crenshaw; born March 7, 1979) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach who is the head women's basketball coach for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. Prior to Texas A&M, she was head coach at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

from 2015 to 2022.

Playing history

Born Joni Crenshaw in

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, eighth most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 35,052 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, ...

, she was the 1997 Gatorade Player of the Year for her home state, after leading Meridian High School to a 67-7 record during her junior and senior seasons. She also won three state titles in track and field. While attending the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

, she helped the Crimson Tide to the 1998 and 1999 NCAA Tournaments and the 2000 and 2001 Women's National Invitation Tournaments. She was a two-year starter and scored 716 points, grabbed 555 rebounds and blocked 103 shots, making her No. 4 among the school's career leaders. She received her bachelor's degree in education from Alabama in 2002.

Coaching history

Taylor has been an assistant coach at

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

(2010–11), an associate head coach at Alabama (2008–10), an assistant then associate head coach at

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

(2005–08), and an assistant coach at

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

(2002–05). She joined the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

staff in 2011, spending one season as an assistant coach, before being promoted to associate head coach. In April 2015, Coach Landers announced his retirement and gave full support for Taylor to replace him. She became only the second full-time head coach in program history. Taylor coached her team to a 21–10 record in her inaugural year, including five wins against ranked opponents and an invitation to the NCAA tournament, which earned her the Spalding Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year award. In 2021, Taylor was named SEC Coach of the Year, following a season of leading her team to the SEC tournament finals and generating interest in a top seeding in the NCAA tournament. On March 23, 2022, Taylor was officially announced as the new head coach for

Head coaching record

Personal life

Taylor is married to Darius Taylor, a former women's basketball assistant coach for

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. They were married in August 2015 and reside in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

. The Taylors have a daughter who was born in 2016, shortly before the start of the Lady Bulldogs' 2016–17 season. Their second daughter was born in 2019.

References

External links