For the first time in 15 years, the University of Idaho held an introductory press conference for a head women’s basketball coach. Terry Gawlik, director of athletics, introduced Carrie Eighmey to Moscow on Tuesday.
“She is exceptional at being a winner,” Gawlik said. “But really what hit me was she truly, truly cares about the student athletes and making them better.”
Eighmey comes to Idaho after eight seasons at the University of Nebraska – Kearney. She went 193-79 during her tenure, leading the Lopers to the D2 NCAA tournament from 2021-2023. She also coached at the NAIA level where she led Hastings college to 68-31 record from 2012-2015. In her 19 years of coaching, this will be her first job at the D1 level.
“I’m honored and grateful for the opportunity to be the next leader of the Vandal women’s basketball program,” Eighmey said.
Eighmey is planning on instilling four core values into the Idaho women’s basketball program; trust, discipline, toughness and selflessness. The first pillar she mentioned was trust.
“We’re going to be people and teammates that others can count on,” Eighmey said. “We’re going to be connected in our program and the community, we’re going to be connected on the court and we’re going to develop great chemistry and relationships.
Number two was discipline. Eighmey and the Vandals are “going to do the right thing at the right time,” Eighmey said.
“We’re going to hold ourselves to a high standard and learn to lead ourselves well,” she continued. “We’re going to pursue excellence in the classroom as well as being leaders in the community.”
The third pillar of the future of Idaho women’s basketball will be toughness. Idaho women’s basketball will expect adversity and face it head on.
Eighmey’s final pillar for the future is selflessness. She’s going to work alongside her players to be a part of something bigger than themselves and getting better every day.
“Our focus on these core values within our program starts with recruiting,” Eighmey said.
Within just 10 days of being in Moscow, Eighmey has already landed two players out of the transfer portal.
Georgia Gray joins the Vandals as a junior transfer from Dodge City Community College. The forward from Melbourne, Australia, went 48% from the field, 60% from the free-throw line, averaged 3.8 rebounds and 5.9 points in 60 games.
Sarah Schmitt played for Eighmey at UNK for the last two seasons. Schmitt will join the Vandals as a redshirt senior. She went 46% from the field, 36% from beyond the arc and 69% from the free throw line. On top of being a decent scorer, Schmitt is also a solid playmaker and defender, averaging around three assists per game and 40 total steals in 61 total games for the Lopers.
Although Eighmey had to go to the transfer portal first, she wants to build her team through local recruitment.
“We are excited about the opportunity to recruit prospects from the local area, and from the region,” Eighmey said. “I believe there’s a ton of extremely talented players within five to 10 hours from here, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to get out, evaluate and recruit those young women in this region.”
With the dotted line signed and the introductory press conference finished, Eighmey can really start getting to work. She announced that her husband, Devin Eighmey, will join her on the coaching staff, but the rest of the staff still needs to be rounded out. She also plans to continue conversations and spend more time with the current roster.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jamesaldrich25