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Denise Taylor enters her eighth year as head coach of the Jackson State women's basketball program. Taylor, former head coach of the WNBA Utah Starzz, was selected as the first head coach during the inaugural season for the franchise. She is the Lady Tigers' third head coach. Taylor has rebuilt the JSU program into a perennial winner and contender for the Southwestern Athletic Conference title. During her tenure Jackson State has posted six winning seasons over the last seven seasons. During the 2007-08 season JSU captured its seventh SWAC Tournament crown, the program's first since 1995. The Lady Tigers then went on to face LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. JSU has also made three WNIT post-season appearances. In 2001-02, Taylor's first season with JSU, the Lady Tigers finished the season with a 16-13 overall record and an 11-7 SWAC record with virtually the same players that went 16-37 the two years prior to her arrival. JSU went on to make it to the semi-final round of the SWAC tournament. During the 2002-03 season she finished with a 23-6 record and won her first SWAC regular season championship. That season Taylor was named the SWAC's co-Coach of the Year. JSU was ranked in the top twenty in several categories in D-I women's basketball. They were ranked 21st is scoring defense (57.1 pg), 20th in scoring margin (13.0 pg), first in field goal percentage (32.6%) and first in blocked shots (8.3 pg). On March 24, 2003 coach Taylor and her team were honored with a resolution presented by Senator Hillman Frazier for the team's accomplishments throughout the 2002-03 season. During the 2003-04 season, the Lady Tigers compiled a 23-7 overall record and again claimed a share of the SWAC regular season title. In 2004-05 the Lady Tigers were forced into the task of re-building. The young JSU squad finished with an 11-17 record and a 9-9 conference mark. Taylor secured here third SWAC regular season championship during the 2005-06 season. Her Lady Tigers finished with a 17-14 overall record and a 14-4 conference record. In 2006-07 the Lady Tigers earned Taylor her fourth Conference regular season co-championship as they finished with a 22-11 overall record and a 14-4 SWAC mark. In 2007-08 JSU finished with an 18-14 overall record and a 13-5 SWAC mark. Under Taylor's tutelage Shelita Burns, Shante Stanford and Carena Easley joined JSU's 1,000 point club. Prior to her year and a half stint with the Starzz, Taylor, a native of Cleveland, Miss., and a graduate of Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, was the head coach at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Ill. She compiled a school record of 42-40 and estabilished the school's first Division I winning season in 1993. She was honored as the East Coast Conference Coach-of-the-Year during the 1993-94 season. Taylor went on to coach at American International College in Springfield, Mass. from 1991-93. She was selected as the school's first full-time head women's basketball coach. Taylor made school history by giving its women's program its first winning season and setting nine school records. Taylor also served as an assistant coach at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas from 1987-91. Lamar made it to the regional finals while compiling a 29-5 overall record in 1988. Taylor is a well-rounded coach who also has a flare for commentating. She served as color analyst for the Tiger Radio Network, covering the JSU men's basketball games. Her expertise in coaching and basketball was a welcomed addition to the broadcast. Taylor is member of the Black Education Scholarship Foundation and was named the organizations' Honorary Chairperson for the Alberta Henry Education Foundation in Salt lake City, Utah in 1997. She is also a 1997 recipient of "The Games Women Play Award" presented by the Women at the Top of Their Game Group in Chicago, Illinois. Other past honorees include Jackee Joyner-Kersee and Wilma Rudolph. A seasoned motivational speaker, Taylor is highly sought after and hits the speaking circuit during the off-season. In 2002, the Lady Tigers hosted their first-ever "Book and Author Dinner" with activist Dick Gregory as the guest speaker. Taylor was recently selected as a member of the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee. In 2007 she coordinated and hosted "Tuxes and Tennis Shoes", which was one of her fund raisers for the Lady Tigers basketball team. Taylor has one son, Taylor Antoine Carr.
THE TAYLOR FILE
Hometown - Cleveland, MS
Playing Experience:
Coaching Experience:
Career Highlights
Year-by-Year Record |
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