Shelby Boyle, a senior guard on Transylvania University’s top 10 women’s basketball team, has been selected to participate in a prestigious program for players interested in pursuing a coaching career.
Boyle will travel to New Orleans in early April for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” program, which coincides with the WBCA Convention at the Division I women’s basketball Final Four.
Boyle was nominated by Transylvania head coach Juli Fulks.
“I want to be a coach to impact others the way coach Fulks has for me during my time as a student-athlete,” Boyle said, adding the college years are formative, a time when students face various life challenges. “I want to help young women as they transition into adulthood through coaching.”
Boyle qualified for the program by meeting rigorous criteria, which include wanting to be a coach, having a GPA average of at least 2.5 and being a credit to the sport of women’s basketball both on and off the court.
The program is partnership between the WBCA and WeCOACH, which assists female collegiate players interested in pursuing a career in coaching women’s basketball by providing them with professional development and career advancement through education, skills enhancement and networking opportunities.
Recent Transylvania student-athletes who’ve gone on to coach
- Celia Kline ’19 is in her first year as a graduate manager for the Division I Cleveland State University women’s basketball team. She played for the Transylvania women’s basketball program from 2015-19.
- Nick Blackwell ’16 has spent the past four years as a graduate assistant coach with the University of Louisville men’s soccer team. He played for Transylvania men’s soccer head coach Matt Vogel from 2012-15.
- Jennifer Buckman ’19 completed her first year as an assistant coach for DIII Ithaca College. After finishing a four-year career with the Pioneers in 2018, she helped guide the Bombers to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in her first season at the upstate New York school.
- Lindsay Hieronymus ’16 served as a women’s basketball assistant coach at DIII Averett University in Virginia from 2017-19 while completing her master’s degree. She has since returned to Kentucky, where she is director of player development for the Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team.
- Jacob Hill ’19 wrapped up his first season on staff at DIII Alma (Michigan) College this past fall as an assistant coach for the Scots’ men’s soccer team. Hill worked at Alma under head coach John Greer, who coached Hill while an assistant coach for the Transylvania men’s soccer team from 2016-19.
- Matt Melzer ’17 is an assistant coach for the Transylvania men’s soccer team and completed his first season on staff with the Pioneers in the 2019 season. Melzer works with head coach Matt Vogel, who he played for at Transylvania from 2013-16.
- Darby Bourdon ’19 completed her first season on staff with the Transylvania volleyball team as a volunteer assistant. Bourdon was part of a staff that led the Pioneers to their first HCAC conference tournament championship and an inaugural trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, where they advanced into the second round.
- Katherine Stachowski ’18 enters her second season in the spring of 2020 on staff with DIII North Central College’s women’s lacrosse program in Naperville, Illinois. Stachowski is a graduate assistant women’s lacrosse coach for the Cardinals, the first DIII varsity women’s lacrosse program in that state.
- Brandon Heller ’18 completed his first season on the Transylvania men’s lacrosse staff in 2019. Heller serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the Pioneers while he works on his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky.
- Tate Spivey ’16 finished his third season as part of the men’s soccer coaching staff at Centre College. Spivey serves as the lead assistant coach for the Colonels; he played at Transylvania from 2013-16.