Like heralding trumpets, Kristy Curry’s impressive 27-year basketball resume was read off by her new South Florida bosses at an introductory press conference on Monday.
Curry is one of 10 women’s coaches with at least 100 wins at three programs – 245 over 13 seasons at Alabama, where she led the Crimson Tide to the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six seasons.
Five hundred career victories. Sweet 16s? Yep. Elite Eights. Two of them.
An “icon” and a “trailblazer” in women’s sports, according to USF Athletics CEO Rob Higgins. Each superlative serenaded the packed crowd at USF’s Gibbons Alumni Center in Tampa.
“It is an honor to be a part of this extraordinary university, an amazing Tampa Bay community,” a humbled Curry said. “This is the home for hoops.”
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But why would Curry, 59, jump out of the SEC spotlight for the mid-major American Conference? Higgins used that question to tease the crowd before introducing the program's seventh head coach.
“Are you ready to hear why one of the game’s all-time greats would leave Alabama and come to Fowler Avenue?” Higgins said. “Do you want to hear the behind-the-scenes of how we stealthily pull this off? It's actually way more simple than one would assume."
“We are USF! That's how,” he continued.
Beforehand, new USF president Moez Limayem provided context.
“For us at USF, athletics is not an afterthought,” Limayem said. “Athletics is a priority. We have the data to prove that athletics is a factor that helps us with our student success, brings our alums back and our donors. … We have invested a lot, and we're going to continue investing in athletics, and in our women's basketball.”
Curry noted USF’s commitment to “competing at the highest level” to go with a “clear vision and alignment” with her goals. That was enough to attract her from Alabama, where she did “more with less,” according to Roll ‘Bama Roll, which covers Crimson Tide sports.
Last week, AL.com reported Alabama’s women’s basketball program ranked last (16th) in the SEC in spending for 2024-25. Total revenue of $764,000 placed the program at a significant deficit – while common in women’s sports, it was notable given the low investment.
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Beyond leadership and resources, she comes into a program already built into a perennial 20-game winner by longtime coach Jose Fernandez, who moved to the WNBA last year. Curry said she spoke with Fernandez last week and thanked him and his staff for “all that they’ve done for this program.”
Curry, who signed a reported five-year contract, is making her fourth stop as head coach. Before Alabama (2013-26), she guided Purdue (1999-2006) and Texas Tech (2006-13). She replaces interim coach Michele Woods-Baxter, who took over for Fernandez days before the 2025-26 season and led the Bulls to a 20-12 mark.
Fernandez coached the Bulls for 25 years before joining the WNBA’s Dallas Wings last year. He directed the Bulls to four conference titles, 10 NCAA tournament appearances, 12 20-win seasons and 485 victories.
“What Coach has built is incredible,” Curry said. “We're gonna embrace the past, and I look forward to reaching out to all the amazing young women that have been a part of this program, as we join together, everybody in this room, to continue the proud tradition of USF women's basketball.”
Curry said Higgins’ “passion for women’s basketball” was evident, pointing out that his wife, Casey, played for Kansas. Curry also lauded Higgins’ work at his previous job, leading the Tampa Bay Sports Commission when luring four NCAA Women’s Final Fours to Tampa.
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Curry and her "best teammate, " husband Kelly, also appreciated the warm welcome since arriving in Tampa over the weekend. They have two grown daughters, one preparing to graduate from college.
“We truly, firmly believe in family,” she said, “and I know y'all, that term is thrown around a lot, but we truly believe in our program being a family, and we live it. We live it every single day. Family is first to me. I always say I have two daughters at home and 15 at the office, and that is truly what it is. We are a family.”
She explained that team culture will be built on the principles of grit, love and gratitude.
“When you talk about grit, we will be the hardest workers, and that starts with me in the classroom, the court and the community,” she said in her Louisiana native drawl.
“We will love one another, this community, this university, like nothing you've ever seen. Love is what brings grit and gratitude together. Gratitude. We will have a proactive mindset of being thankful for the moment, each other, in the program and university and community we represent," she continued.
That’s all part of her “50-year plan,” in which they're “here for you the rest of your life,” she said. “And as long as y'all can understand ‘y'all,’ we're gonna be good.”
