Click here to watch Chrissy Roberts' EKU Athletics Hall of Fame induction speech.
Chrissy Roberts has led the Eastern Kentucky women’s basketball team to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship game twice in the past three seasons, something that had only been accomplished one other time in program history.
In 2016, the Colonels advanced to the title game as the No. 4 seed. In 2017, Eastern became the first-ever No. 7 seed to advance to the championship game, knocking off No. 2 Morehead State and No. 3 Southern Illinois Edwardsville along the way.
Having lost 13 seniors from those two teams, Roberts has rebuilt with a talented group of young players. The recruiting efforts were visible in 2017-18 when A’Queen Hayes was chosen as the OVC Newcomer of the Week nine times and picked up first team All-OVC honors. In addition, freshman Bria Bass was third on the team in scoring and rebounding in her first collegiate season. Young players Abby Wright and Shay Solomon excelled in featured roles for the first time.
On October 12, 2007, Roberts returned to her alma mater to be inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Seven months later, Roberts returned to EKU again, this time for a longer stay. Roberts was selected as the program’s eighth head coach on May 29, 2008.
Now in her 11th season, Roberts is the second winningest coach in program history. Off the court, the team received the President's Volunteer Service Award from the Corporation on National and Community Service for its commitment to serving the Richmond community in 2017.
“To be back at home surrounded by the people that helped me grow as a person is a wonderful feeling,” Roberts said. “To be able to do what I love in a place that I call home means so much to me. It’s a dream come true.”
As a student-athlete, Roberts led Eastern to its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship and first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. She later served two stints as an assistant at her alma mater before spending six seasons as an assistant at East Carolina University.
“My goal is for our student-athletes to become the best people, students and athletes they can be,” said Roberts. “Colonels will graduate from EKU as both, champions on the court, and in the classroom.”
In 10 years leading the program, Roberts has coached nine All-OVC selections, eight OVC All-Newcomer Team picks, three all-tournament honorees and one OVC Freshman of the Year. She has also tutored three 1,000-point scorers – Marie Carpenter (1,623), Alex Jones (1,290) and Brittany Coles (1,031).
Roberts helped Jalen O’Bannon develop into one of the top players in program history. She earned first team all-conference honors in 2015-16 and 2016-17. O’Bannon scored nearly 1,000 points and grabbed more than 500 rebounds in her two seasons as a Colonel.
Under Roberts' guidance, EKU won 35 games from 2012 to 2014. During the 2013-14 season, Roberts led the Colonels to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament for the first time in nine years. Carpenter averaged 21.1 points per game that season and broke the school record for career three-pointers (202).
In 2012-13, Eastern finished 18-12 and reached the quarterfinals of the OVC Tournament. The Colonels’ stellar season was rewarded by an invitation to play in the Women’s Basketball Invitational. On March 20, 2013, EKU played at Elon in its first national tournament appearance since winning the OVC and playing the in the NCAA Tournament in 2005.
Two members of Roberts’ first full recruiting class, Jones and Coles, graduated the spring of 2013 as some of the most decorated Colonels of all time. Jones finished her EKU career first all-time in rebounds (1,050), tied for first in double-doubles (38) and 14th in points (1,290). Coles, meanwhile, finished 20th in points (1,031), sixth in three-pointers (139) and second in blocks (95).
In 2011-12, EKU more than doubled its number of wins from the previous season. Roberts led the Colonels to a 7-win improvement, which tied for the seventh best turnaround in the nation. Eastern finished four spots higher than it was picked in the preseason OVC poll.
Another one of Roberts’ fine coaching jobs came in 2009-10. Despite being picked to finish ninth in the OVC preseason poll that year, Eastern Kentucky tied for fourth place in the conference standings. In 2008-09, EKU won seven games, placed ninth in the OVC, and failed to qualify for the postseason conference tournament. However, in 2009-10 EKU concluded the season with 12 victories, won twice as many conference games and returned to postseason play. The Colonels began the conference schedule with a 5-0 record for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
The Eminence, Kentucky, native’s Hall of Fame playing career began when she wore maroon and white for the first time, as a junior, in 1996. After transferring from the University of Kentucky, Roberts made an immediate impact at EKU. She averaged 13.4 points, and led the nation with a 48.8 three-point shooting percentage in 1996-97. She helped the Colonels roll to a 24-6 record, claim the OVC regular-season championship with a 16-2 mark, win the school’s first-ever conference tournament title, and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
Roberts scored 18 points in Eastern Kentucky’s first NCAA Tournament game, against second seeded Georgia on March 14, 1997.
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Following her junior season Roberts won two national awards for her three-point shooting. She was honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with the Edward S. Steitz Award. For this honor, her shoes, jersey and practice gear were enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. She also won the AT&T Long Distance Award.
During the 1997-98 season, her senior campaign, Roberts averaged a team-high 15.2 points per game, shot 48.6 percent from the field and 45.9 percent from three-point range. She was selected as the OVC Player of the Year, earned first team all-conference honors for the second straight season and garnered Kodak All-America Honorable Mention honors. She helped the Colonels (20-8, 15-3 OVC) to their second straight OVC regular-season title.
On her way to earning OVC Player of the Year honors, Roberts ranked in the top-10 in the OVC in nine different categories. She led the league in free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage, three-pointers made and minutes played. She finished second in scoring, and fifth in assists and steals.
Roberts holds school records for three-pointers in a single season (85 in 1996-97) and career three-point field goal percentage (47.6). She is sixth on Eastern’s career three-pointers made list (152).
In 2002, Roberts joined the staff at East Carolina where she served as the program’s recruiting coordinator and worked closely with the team’s guards. In her first five seasons at ECU, the Lady Pirates finished higher than predicted each season.
The rebuilding process at East Carolina culminated in 2007. The Lady Pirates went 19-14 overall and finished third in C-USA with an 11-5 mark. ECU went on to capture its first C-USA Tournament championship and earn the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth in 25 years. The trip to the Big Dance was only the second in school history.
At ECU, Roberts coached three 1,000-point scorers, 10 all-conference selections, the 2006 C-USA Freshman of the Year, the 2007 tournament MVP, two C-USA All-Defensive team selections and five C-USA Players of the Week.
After her collegiate playing career ended Roberts jumped right into coaching. She served as a graduate assistant at EKU for the 1998-99 season and then moved to a full-time assistant position at Tennessee Tech University for one season. While Roberts was at Tech, the team finished with a 24-9 record, a 16-2 mark in OVC play, won the regular-season conference championship, the OVC Tournament title and made a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The OVC Tournament banner with Roberts on the coaching staff in 2000 is the last for Tennessee Tech.
Roberts left TTU to return for a second stint as an assistant to Larry Joe Inman at her alma mater. In two seasons, she helped the Colonels to a 45-14 record and a 27-5 mark against OVC teams. EKU finished second in the conference in 2000-01 and shared the regular-season conference championship in 2001-02. Under Roberts’ guidance the Colonels led the nation in scoring in 2001, averaging 88.4 points per game. EKU capped the 2002 season by earning the first postseason victory in program history, beating Missouri State to advance to the Sweet 16 in the WNIT.
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In Roberts’ first five seasons at Eastern Kentucky, two as a player and three as an assistant coach, the Colonels were 100-44 (.694) overall and 66-20 (.767) against conference teams. During that same time, EKU won three regular-season championships, an OVC Tournament title and made two postseason appearances.
As a player and a coach, Roberts has participated in three NCAA Tournament games and two WNIT contests.
In 1998 Roberts earned a bachelor’s degree in sports supervision from Eastern Kentucky. She earned a master’s degree in sport administration in 1999.
In high school, Roberts was a first team all-state selection and a National High School Athletic Coaches Association All-American her senior season at Eminence High School. She capped her prep career by being selected to play in the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star game.
