The RoundHouse | 4/20/2023 6:22:00 PM
By Paul Suellentrop
Whether in the basement of their Raytown, Mo., home or at Allen Fieldhouse, the sisters knew. They grew up watching Terry Nooner lead, inspire and connect people through basketball.
Their older brother would be a coach.
"I told him 'I can't wait to see you (coach) on TV,'" said Kendra Rodgers, the youngest of four siblings. "I meant it wholeheartedly. I believed in him."
On Thursday, Wichita State introduced Terry Nooner as women's basketball coach. Nooner spent the past three seasons as associate head coach for the University of Kansas women's team. He played for the KU men's team from 1997-2000, joining the team as a walk-on and rising to team captain.
Tanesha Nooner Ford remembers the games at Allen Fieldhouse when the fans would chant his name. She realized her brother wasn't an ordinary walk-on.
"It spoke to his ability to inspire people," she said.
That story of overcoming odds, of building relationships, of coaching in places as varied as Maryland, AAU teams in Kansas City and the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers convinced Wichita State director of athletics Kevin Saal. Nooner played for former Kansas coach Roy Williams and worked for Brenda Frese at Maryland, Tyronn Lue (a high school teammate) with the Cavaliers and current Kansas coach Brandon Schneider, among others.
Nooner taught special education, a profession where communication, empathy and patience is required, and volunteered to coach youth basketball. He wasn't sure he wanted to coach as a career, until coaching grade-school girls changed his mind.
"That's a true underdog story," Saal said. "He's got a great work ethic. Roy Williams thinks the world of him. His teammates think the world of him. That's a solid foundation from which to build a coaching career."
That foundation starts in Kansas City with family. The Nooner family poured hopes and dreams into the oldest son. Nooner repaid their time and loyalty with leadership, love, and humor.
"He's set the path for everything we've done in our lives," Nooner Ford said. "Education. Going to college. We followed in his pathway."
Nooner and Rodgers both had bedrooms in the basement of their home. Rodgers says no one knows her as well as her brother. He was her PE teacher at Raytown High and worked on her basketball skills. He was fun to play for, but tough enough to make them run sprints for discipline.
"He didn't play," Rodgers said. "We had fun, but we also worked."
She knows he always carries LifeSavers spearmint candy.
"He's a lifeline," Rodgers said. "He is the one everybody depends on. He's that guy."
Nurturing and protecting three siblings – younger brother Cortez Hill as well – is good training for coaching. The family also includes 31 cousins, a group of which he is the second oldest.
"I had a lot of cousins who looked up to me," he said.
So is always being the new kid. Nooner said he attended eight schools in Kansas City.
"You just show up in the middle of the year and you've got to make friends," he said. "Those things were big. I always had a connecting kind of personality. I'm jovial and funny."
Terry Nooner Sr. passed away last week, and the family leaned on his oldest son as they reminisced. While they mourned, the new job opportunity gave the family joy.
"Out of a really sad moment, this really amazing and beautiful thing happened for him and his family," Nooner Ford said. "I'm so proud of him."
On Thursday, Nooner arrived by jet at James Jabara Airport with Tracy and their three children in the early afternoon. He did an interview with Mike Kennedy in the women's locker room, took promotional pictures and met the Shockers. At the introduction at Koch Arena, Saal reiterated the importance of relationships and of recruiting in the region to his evaluation and decision.
"The thing you can find that is unique with Terry is the relationships and connection piece," Saal said. "Which I think is so important in developing the student-athlete experience. The recruitment and retention, the continuity of a roster, is just so important. He certainly has those skills."
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
