President Jim Gash and Incoming Director of Athletics Tanner Gardner welcomed Katie Faulkner, incoming Pepperdine Women’s Basketball head coach, to Pepperdine on April 17. Both Gash and Gardner said they couldn’t be more excited for the future of the Women’s Basketball program.
Faulkner has 10 years of experience coaching collegiate basketball — eight of which were at the Division I level as she was previously an assistant coach for Oregon State University and associate head coach for the University of Washington.
“She [Faulkner] declared Pepperdine will be an elite Women’s Basketball program,” Gardner said. “Which I think is a bold and exciting statement and exactly what we want in a head Women’s Basketball coach.”
While at OSU, Faulkner helped coach the team to a 118-37 record across five seasons including four straight NCAA appearances and an Elite Eight appearance in 2018, according to Pepperdine Athletics. At Washington, Faulkner helped the Huskies to their first postseason berth in six years and helped sign top-20 recruiting classes in back-to-back seasons.
Faulkner said these experiences taught her what it takes to build a program from the ground up and what a winning look program looks like on a daily basis. Know this, Faulkner looks to instill this at Pepperdine.
“[I’ve learned] what it takes to get the right people in place,” Faulkner said. “What it takes to teach a value driven system and what it takes to start player development from the bottom up, and so, I think my experiences have definitely prepared me for this moment.”
Tina Langley, Washington Women’s Basketball head coach, commended Pepperdine for choosing Faulkner as the next head coach, Gash said, quoting Langley.
“She [Faulkner] is a rising star in this profession whose experience and knowledge of the college basketball landscape will make an immediate impact,” Gash said, quoting Langley. “I am deeply grateful for Katie and her commitment to building our program in Washington over the past three seasons. Her insights [and] passion for the game and genuine care for our student athletes has been invaluable.”
During the past four seasons, Women’s Basketball has had an overall record of 29-79 recording, according to Basketball Reference. Despite the struggles of previous seasons, Faulkner said she hasn’t looked deeply into past seasons and is instead committed to setting expectations about the program’s future.
“There will be a new standard and there will be a standard that will uphold this program,” Faulkner said. “A standard that we will not waver on and not a standard that is based on anything that’s unreasonable or anything that is results based.”
Faulkner said she has already begun working with the team and can see great character within the athletes through their selflessness and desire to get better.
“Asking great questions is the key to becoming great because it comes from a place of I want to grow, and I want to get better,” Faulkner said. “And so the questions that they’ve come with have been outward focused. They haven’t been inward at all. And so, there’s humility; there’s character in this room, and I am excited to work with them.”
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