Katie Gearlds

Kathryn Ann Gearlds (born October 26, 1984) is an American women's basketball coach and former forward, who is the current head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers. She is also the former women's basketball head coach of the Marian Knights. She played college basketball at Purdue for coaches Kristy Curry and Sharon Versyp from 2003 to 2007 and played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for three seasons from 2007 to 2009.

Katie Gearlds

Gearlds in 2022
Purdue Boilermakers
Position	Head coach
League	Big Ten Conference
Personal information
Born	(1984-10-26) October 26, 1984 Beech Grove, Indiana
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight	184 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High school	Beech Grove (Beech Grove, Indiana)
College	Purdue (2003–2007)
WNBA draft	2007: 1st round, 7th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle Storm
Playing career	2007–2013
Position	Forward
Number	4
Coaching career	2013–present
Career history
As player:
2007–2009	Seattle Storm
As coach:
2013–2021	Marian (Indiana)
2021–present	Purdue
Career highlights and awards
As player: Third-team All-American – AP (2007) Big Ten tournament MOP (2007) 2x First-team All-Big Ten (2006, 2007) Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2004) Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2004) Indiana Miss Basketball (2003) McDonald's All-American Game MVP (2003) As coach: 2x NAIA D2 National Champions (2016, 2017)
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

High school

Gearlds was born in Beech Grove, Indiana and attended Beech Grove High School. In her four years, she compiled 2,521 career points, which ranked her fourth in Indiana history. She won numerous awards in her high school career, including being named Miss Basketball in 2003, after leading the Hornets to the 3A State Championship. Gearlds was also named a WBCA All-American, and participated in the 2003 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored ten points. She was the MVP of the 2003 McDonald's All-American Game.

College

Gearlds went on to star at Purdue University. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2004. In her four years as a Boilermaker, she compiled 14.8 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game, and 3.0 assists per game. The team had a 103–30 record during her tenure. She earned the Big Ten tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2007 after Purdue defeated Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. She also won both the women's and overall State Farm College Three Point Championships on March 29, 2007, defeating male competitor and future NBA starter Aaron Brooks 17 to 16.

She graduated from Purdue in 2007 with a bachelor of science degree in sociology with a minor in psychology and communications.

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2007	Seattle	33	0	13.2	38.6	34.4	88.0	1.6	0.7	0.4	0.2	0.6	4.0
2008	Seattle	34	3	13.8	37.3	39.1	73.9	1.3	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.4	5.0
2009	Seattle	20	0	12.2	39.2	40.4	75.0	1.3	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.6	4.1
Career	3 years, 1 team	87	3	13.2	38.2	38.0	80.8	1.4	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.5	4.4

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2007	Seattle	2	0	11.5	50.0	100.0	0.0	1.5	1.5	0.5	0.0	0.5	1.5
2008	Seattle	3	0	7.0	33.3	25.0	50.0	0.3	0.7	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0
Career	2 years, 1 team	5	0	8.8	37.5	40.0	50.0	0.8	1.0	0.8	0.0	0.2	1.8

College career statistics

Source

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003–04	Purdue	33	350	47.6	45.7	73.2	2.7	2.1	1.2	0.5	10.6
2004–05	Purdue	30	422	39.6	31.9	89.0	3.8	3.0	1.6	1.0	14.1
2005–06	Purdue	33	495	43.6	37.3	84.8	4.1	3.6	1.0	0.8	15.0
2006–07	Purdue	37	707	44.2	38.9	89.5	4.9	3.3	1.6	0.4	19.1
Career	Purdue	133	1974	43.6	37.9	86.3	3.9	3.0	1.4	0.6	14.8

WNBA and overseas career

On April 4, 2007, Gearlds was selected by the Seattle Storm with the seventh overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft. In her rookie campaign, Gearlds appeared in 33 games for the Storm. She averaged 4.0 points per game, 1.6 rebounds per game, and 1.5 assists per game. She only played two more WNBA seasons (all with Seattle), appearing in 87 total games and averaging 4.4 points per game.

However, Gearlds playing career continued overseas. She spent two seasons (2011–12) in Spain as a professional player, and she also spent three years (2008–10) in Greece where she played and served as an assistant coach. She also spent some of 2007 in Slovakia as a player. In early 2013, she spent the year playing in Portugal and averaged 14.3 points per game for Alges where she was part of the league and cup championship teams.

Coaching career

On July 16, 2013, Gearlds was named the head coach of the women's basketball team at Marian University.

In just her second season, Gearlds led the Knights to a 28–6 record, earning the program's second-ever NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament berth, and first Crossroads League title. In her third season, she led the Knights to a record of 32–6 (.842) and won the 2016 National title, the first in program history. The Knights repeated as National Champions in 2017, winning their final 23 games to finish with a school-record 35 wins.

On March 26, 2021; Purdue announced the 2021–2022 season will be the last year of the "Versyp Era" at Purdue, Gearlds joining the Boilermaker staff and then succeeding Sharon Versyp as the head coach in the spring of 2022. The Journal & Courier reported on August 18, 2021 that Purdue University was investigating allegations that Versyp created a “toxic and hostile environment,” including verbally attacking players and bullying a member of her coaching staff. It was announced on September 16, 2021 that Versyp would be retiring and replaced by Gearlds a year earlier than originally planned.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Marian Knights (Crossroads League) (2013–2021)
2013–14	Marian	16–16	8–10	5th
2014–15	Marian	28–6	14–4	2nd	NAIA Division II First Round
2015–16	Marian	32–6	16–2	1st	NAIA Division II National Champions
2016–17	Marian	35–3	17–1	1st	NAIA Division II National Champions
2017–18	Marian	32–3	17–1	1st	NAIA Division II First Round
2018–19	Marian	27–7	16–2	1st	NAIA Division II First Round
2019–20	Marian	31–3	16–2	1st	Postseason canceled due to COVID-19
2020–21	Marian	26–5	16–0	1st
Marian:		227–49	120–22
Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Conference) (2021–present)
2021–22	Purdue	17–15	7–11	T–9th	WNIT Second Round
2022–23	Purdue	19–11	9–8	7th	NCAA Division I First Four
2023–24	Purdue	15–19	5–13	T–11th	WNIT Great 8
Purdue:		51–45 (.531)	21–32 (.396)
Total:		278–94 (.747)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

• WNBA profile
• Purdue University profile
• Marian University press release