Kelli Bagley is in her sixth year as assistant coach at Wichita State after being named to the position in April, 2017.
A former player under head coach Keitha Adams at UTEP, Bagley has spent the last six seasons on Adams' staff, including the final two at UTEP.
Bagley, who enjoyed a star-studded career (2010-14) at UTEP, had a memorable year in her first as a member of the coaching staff with her alma mater.
UTEP put together one of the finest years in program history in 2015-16. The Miners equaled the school record for wins (29), took home the 2016 C-USA regular-season championship (16-2) and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2016 WNIT. The Orange and Blue also set single campaign records set for steals (397) turnovers forced (706) with Adams skillfully deploying a mixture of defensive schemes. All four games in the WNIT were played in El Paso, with the Miners averaging 6,405 fans in the time frame.
The Orange and Blue received votes in the USA TODAY Sports women's basketball coaches top-25 poll for six consecutive weeks, including breaking into the top 25 (#25) for the second time in school history the week of March 1-6. UTEP also picked up votes for a school-record 14 straight weeks in the AP Top-25 poll. The team became the first at the school to boast three separate winning streaks of at least seven contests and set the program mark for longest home undefeated surge at 19.
Bagley returned to UTEP after embarking on her coaching career with Seward County Community College.
As an assistant coach with the Lady Saints, she helped the program forge a mark of 28-6 and advance to the Sweet 16 of the NJCAA National Tournament. Five players from that team went on to ink national letters of intention at four-year institutions, including Miner signee Tamara Seda. Seda was the sixth player in recent years from Seward.
At UTEP, Bagley's duties included helping with recruiting within the state of Texas, working with the guards, coordinating efforts with life skills and being an ambassador of the program.
Bagley was a four-year starter for head coach Keitha Adams, and graduated as part of the class with the most wins in program history. During her four years the Miners forged a mark of 96-36, which was helped by three straight 20+ win seasons for the first time in program history.
A member of the 1,000 career point club, she is also a fixture in the UTEP career record books. When her eligibility ended, she owned program standards for starts (117) and three-pointers made (215) while ranking second for assists (373) and minutes played (3,719), tied for second in free-throw percentage (78.8), third in games played (126), seventh in field goals attempted (1,002) and three-point percentage (34.7) and 11th for steals (131).
Two of the Miners’ three postseason appearances in program history occurred during her career. UTEP earned an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA Championships after claiming both the Conference USA regular season and tournament championships. The Miners finished the season 29-8, including a hard-fought loss (85-77) to national power Penn State in the first round of the “Big Dance.”
The Miners accepted an at-large bid to the WNIT in 2014, and made the most of their first appearance in the event. UTEP made a magical run to secure runner-up honors. The Miners nearly took home the title, but they were handed a 56-54 defeat at the hands of Rutgers.
Bagley was a member of the 2011 All C-USA Freshman team. A standout in the classroom, Bagley was four-time member of the C-USA Academic Honor Roll and recipient of the C-USA Academic Medal.
A native of DeSoto, Texas, Bagley graduated from UTEP in May 2014 with a degree in kinesiology.
She married former Miner football standout Marcus Bagley on Oct. 3, 2015 and they have one boy.
