MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BVM) – Clad in the signature Memphis Tigers’ blue and a wide smile, Katrina Merriweather stood proudly in front of a crowded audience to introduce herself as the first black women’s basketball coach in the program’s history.

While she had been in the city before in her own college playing days, this was the first time she was looked at as an ally rather than the enemy.

“I have learned very quickly what it means to be a Memphian,” Merriweather said. “There is a criterion on how many ribs I have to eat, or how many times I’ve been to Beale Street, or how many years I have to be here, but I am excited to become a Memphian.”

From her playing days at Cincinnati to her successful five-year tenure as the head coach of Wright State, Merriweather has been accustomed to overcoming the odds and putting her best foot forward in the face of adversity.

Prior to her joining then-head coach Mike Bradbury at Wright State, the program had become an afterthought in the Horizon League. In fact, in 22 of their previous seasons, they had just one winning season.

By the time they arrived in 2010, it changed the course of the program forever.

They had their first 20-win season in Division I play and made it to the second round of the WNIT. Merriweather stayed an assistant under Bradbury until 2016, where she was chosen for the head coaching job.

From there, she won three Horizon League championships, was named the conference’s Coach of the Year in 2021 and had a winning percentage of 70.6%. She led the Raiders to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, even upsetting No. 4-seeded Arkansas in the first round as a No. 13 seed.

With so much success, Merriweather had been a popular name around coaching circles, who had been clamoring for her to leave to join a bigger program. However, she persisted, until a call from Memphis’ athletic director Laird Veatch called presenting her with the opportunity of a lifetime.

“When I got the phone call from Laird and could hear how enthusiastic he was about the vision he had for women’s basketball and how convinced I was that he was going to do everything he could to invest in these young people to give them the student-athlete experience they deserve, it was a no-brainer coming here,” Merriweather said. “That is very hard to say when you have spent 11 years somewhere and a place that you call home. I can’t imagine any other people, I can’t imagine any other place, any other people, who could have made me feel so comfortable in trying something new.”

While Wright State was not only Merriweather’s first head coaching opportunity, but she also expressed that Memphis allowed her the most opportunities to grow. Playing against Memphis in college allowed her to see first-hand just how passionate fans were about the program, a passion that has not waned 20 years later.

“This is a place where people care and are invested,” Merriweather said. “There are pressures that come along with fans and the people who watch the games and pay attention. But I think that’s a great thing. I think that it is great for our student-athletes that come in and work hard every day. They deserve to have people watching and paying attention and cheering and supporting them.”

The student-athletes she is referring to are Memphis’ women’s basketball program who are coming off of the heels of a turbulent and disappointing 4-15 season. Last season was not the first of their struggles, as they have not participated in a postseason tournament since 2015.

From having nearly a dozen games postponed or canceled because of COVID and the impromptu retirement of longtime head coach Melissa McFerrin the team’s season was in disarray from the onset.

Rather than dwell on the bad season, Merriweather told the media that when speaking to the team, that it was time to put it all behind them.

“Part of what me and the team were talking about is that you just have to reset,” Merriweather said. “Let’s not dwell on the past or talk about what happened or what was or what could have been. Let’s focus on what we can do something about which is today, tomorrow, and the next day.”

While there is still a lot of time between Merriweather’s hiring and the start of next season, she said that she is looking forward to meeting and building relationships with fellow coaches, alumni and the Memphis community.

Most importantly though, she wants to get to know her players as well as instill her own values for life on and off the court to her new team.

“I think that it is very important to depend on something that is dependable,” Merriweather said. “For me, that is going to be defense and rebounding always. It takes effort, it takes grits, it takes guts, it takes toughness, all the things I believe we need to be successful in life.”

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