Chelsea Lyles named ASUN Coach of the Year ahead of ASUN Tourney

Author: Zach Oliveri
Published: Updated:

In seven of the last eight seasons, the Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball team ended the ASUN Tournament as champions. The one outlier was in 2020 when the conference title game was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

Now, the Eagles are back as the top seed in the ASUN Tournament looking to do it again.

Lauryn Taylor said, “every team is going to give us there best shot. Everyone’s looking to either go home or advance. We’re looking to do the same thing.”

This time, the Eagles will be led by first-year head coach Chelsea Lyles.

In November, the longtime assistant took over the program two games into the season after Karl Smesko became the head coach for the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.

Lyles said, “a lot of people including our staff, the players were hurt when by Coach Smesko leaving. And that just says a lot about him. Everybody loved and adored him. And so, when he left, it was hard on everybody. So you’re just trying to kind of pick up the pieces and then still trying to get them to a point where they can enjoy the season and be successful.”

“Not many people can say they had that sort of coaching change that soon random,” Taylor said. “But we all just looked to like I said continue the legacy. It’s about expectations. It’s not about the voice. The voice changed but the expectations stayed the same.”

The team’s dominance in conference play stayed the same as well. The Eagles, for the second straight season, went undefeated in conference play and won the regular season championship.

Lyles was also named as the ASUN Coach of the Year.

“More so just proud of the girls on our staff and getting the recognition for the staff and the type of work they put in this year,” Lyles said about the honor. “That’s more so the way I saw it.”

This week, the ASUN announced both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be played at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.

This team wants to have one more celebration on their floor.

ASUN Player of the Year Emani Jefferson said, “gotta make it a big one. I’m excited for everybody to experience this cause it’s not promised or guaranteed.”

FGCU plays the winner of Friday’s Austin Peay and West Georgia game Saturday night at 6:30.

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