Laurie Koehn and Kamie Ethridge have known each other for nearly 30 years. The Washington State women’s basketball coaches first met when Koehn was an eighth grader in Moundridge, Kansas, already a basketball wizard. Ethridge, then an assistant at Kansas State, recruited Koehn to the Wildcats, despite the fact that she gravitated toward the Kansas Jayhawks, one of the premier basketball brands in the country.
However, Ethridge and her boss, coach Deb Patterson, now Ethridge’s director of player personnel at WSU, knew they wanted Koehn and earned her trust. “She was just a small-town kid that grew up shooting the basketball on an outdoor court in her driveway and had no other way to play,” Ethridge said. “She became obsessed with (basketball), and in particular, shooting the basketball, because that’s all she could really do in her little town.
And honestly, I believe, became one of the best shooters in the world.” Ethridge’s description of Koehn as “one of the best shooters in the world” is not hyperbole. When Koehn left Kansas State after four seasons in 2005, she had made more three-point shots (392) than anyone in NCAA women’s college basketball.
Her record stood until 2015 and has since been broken by 17 women, most recently Caitlin Clark (548). Ethridge said Koehn’s three-point shot was ahead of her time. “The game was a little bit different then.
It wasn’t as open, it wasn’t as three-point dominant as it is now,” Ethridge said. “Her ability and what she was as a player, probably would translate into this day and age’s game even better than she was in that day and age.” Koehn made herself the best by outworking the rest.
“She literally overworked herself into two stress fractures on her naviculars her freshman year in college, like she was obsessed with working out. She never took a day off. Her intensity was unbelievable,” Ethridge said.
After helping the Wildcats to four NCAA Tournaments, including the 2002 Sweet 16 and 2004 Big 12 Championship, Koehn played an 11-year pro career, signing with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA in 2005 and playing overseas. She frequently returned to K-State, not just to assist with clinics, but to run them. When Ethridge got the head coach job at Northern Colorado University, she asked Koehn to run a team camp.
Then, Ethridge asked Koehn to join her staff. Koehn had just returned from Australia and had an opportunity to play one more year. While she was tempted to continue her playing career, Ethridge told her that it was not guaranteed that she would have an opening on her staff in a year or two when Koehn would more than likely have to retire.
“I wanted to coach and to think I could jump right into a division one college coaching job with my mentor and someone that you know,” Koehn said. “I believe in everything that she’s doing and everything that she’s building and the way that she coaches – it was kind of a no brainer.” She said yes, joined the staff and does not regret it.
At Northern Colorado, Ethridge and Koehn built an NCAA Tournament roster that won a program-record 26 games. That success led the staff to an opportunity on the Palouse. In six seasons with Ethridge at the helm, the Cougs have qualified for four straight postseasons, including three straight NCAA Tournaments.
Ethridge and Koehn fundamentally changed a program that had qualified for just one NCAA Tournament (1991) prior to their tenure Koehn has thrived as an active teacher, never missing a chance to be on the court, playing with and against her players and making time for one-on-one lessons. Former WSU center Bella Murekatete, who left WSU in April as the program’s leader in games started and rebounds, greatly benefited from Koehn’s teachings. Koehn said the pandemic stunted Murekatete’s basketball progress, but something changed in her fourth year.
Murekatete began spending more time in the weight room and in the gym, practicing her shot. Koehn was critical to Murekatete’s transformation. “Whenever you need her, she is going to get in the gym with you,” Murekatete said in 2023.
“If you feel like your shot is broken, you just call her and say ‘Laurie, my shot is broken, can we fix it?’ and she’ll be like ‘Of course.’” Ethridge said Koehn is at the center of everything the program does to support their student-athletes. In addition to being the first face recruits see when they connect with WSU, she also addresses any concerns that come up once an athlete gets to campus, from academic scheduling to financial matters to food.
“She knows the ins and outs, or will follow through and get answers for them,” Ethridge said. Senior Tara Wallack said Koehn is the loudest, most energetic person on the court. “She has so much passion for the game and it really just motivates everyone on the team to have that same passion and I mean, she’s just someone we can go to literally any hour of the day we’ll text her, ‘Hey, can we come shoot?’ She’ll rebound for us or literally anything else, she’ll drop what she’s doing and help us,” Wallack said.
Ethridge said she and Koehn work so well together because of their values. Both are Christian women. While Ethridge is the first to tell you they are “not coaches that hit (their players) over the head with our beliefs,” their value system shapes how they lead the program.
“I think she’s the best in the business,” Koehn said about Ethridge. “I think I’ve learned pretty much everything I know about basketball, you know, from her and having a chance to be on the court with her day after day.” Ethridge said she is thankful that Koehn, at this point, does not want to be a head coach.
“Her love for this program and loyalty to this program, and you know how we want to do things, and her investment, like she feels like this is her program. And I think that’s a beautiful thing when you get an associate head coach or coach that feels like where they are is exactly where they want to be,” Ethridge said. “This is her program, and I’m just proud of her for that, and thrilled that she feels that way about what we’re building at Washington State.
” While WSU undergoes significant change following the collapse of the Pac-12, Ethridge and her staff, including Koehn remain for the Cougs’ first year as affiliate members of the West Coast Conference. “I love our players,” Koehn said. “You get people that believe in you and choose you and it’s like you want to see this through with them.
” Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, [email protected] or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor..
