EKU Athletics Hall of Famer Teresa McNair is beginning her fifth season as an assistant coach on Chrissy Roberts' staff in 2018-19.
McNair oversees Eastern's recruiting efforts and works primarily with the team's guards.
As the program’s recruiting coordinator, McNair was charged with replenishing the talent after 13 seniors departed over two seasons from a pair of teams that advanced to back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship games.
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 as well.
In 2016-17, Eastern became the first No. 7 seed in league history to advance to the tournament finals. The Colonels knocked off No. 2 seed Morehead State and No. 3 seed Southern Illinois Edwardsville en route to the title game.
In 2015-16, McNair was part of a staff that helped EKU win 18 games and go 10-6 in conference contests. Under her guidance, guards Shameekia Murray and Michaela Hunter averaged more than 12 points per game, as the Colonels reached the OVC title game for the first time since the 2005 season. Meanwhile, the EKU defense averaged more than seven steals per contest. Hunter ranked among the league's top performers in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals. Both Murray and Hunter ranked in the conference's top-15 in scoring and steals.
McNair was inducted into the EKU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012, less than 10 years after the conclusion of her prolific Colonel career.
"Teresa has been a great addition to our coaching staff,” Roberts said. “I have followed Teresa's coaching career closely since she left Richmond, and I think she is a perfect fit for us right now. I look forward to watching her coach with the same passion and toughness she displayed as a player here at EKU."
McNair started in all but five of the 116 games she played for coach Larry Joe Inman. The native of Ocala, Florida was an integral part of 76 victories during her career at Eastern, which included a fantastic junior year in 2001-02 that saw EKU finish with a 23-8 record, win the regular season Ohio Valley Conference title and an advancement to the WNIT Sweet 16.
As a senior, McNair was named first-team All-OVC thanks to averaging 10.8 points per game and leading the nation with 131 steals. She averaged 11.1 points per game and finished 24th in the nation in steals-per-game her junior season, as Eastern captured the regular season OVC title. The Colonels won 23 games (second-most in program history) that year, defeated Southwest Missouri in the opening round of the WNIT and hosted Alabama in the Sweet 16 of the WNIT.
As a sophomore, McNair started all 28 games and won the second of four EKU Team Defensive Awards she collected in her career. She made an immediate impact as a freshman, averaging 10.0 points per game and being named to the All-OVC Freshman Team.
McNair led the OVC in steals each of her four seasons at Eastern and holds the conference career steals mark with 406. She ended her career at EKU with 1,183 points.
McNair earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and information technology from EKU in 2003. She then received a master's degree in business administration with a concentration in information security management from Saint Leo University in 2010 and a master's degree in educational leadership from Grand Canyon University in 2013.
In 2006, McNair became the first African American girl's head basketball coach at her alma mater, Forest High School in Ocala. She was inducted into the school's inaugural Hall of Fame class in August 2014.
McNair has a 10-year-old daughter named Princess Hardin.
