Purdue women's basketball is bringing on a new assistant coach, hiring Mark Stephens to join Katie Gearlds' coaching staff ahead of the 2023-2024 season. In addition to his role as assistant coach, he will also be the program's recruiting coordinator.
Stephens was previously an assistant coach for Toledo from 2019-2023. During his tenure, Stephens helped the Rockets to back-to-back seasons of 29 wins following campaigns of 14 and 12 wins in the two years prior. Toledo went to the WNIT Quarterfinals in 2022 and upset No. 5 seed Iowa State in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Before his four-year tenure with Toledo, Stephens spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Xavier.
Stephens also has deep ties to the state of Indiana. He was an assistant coach at Southport High School from 2003-2011 and at Decatur Central High School from 2011-2012. He got his first chance as a head coach at Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School in Indianapolis for two seasons before taking the job at Xavier.
During his high school coaching career in Indianapolis, Stephens was the Assistant Club Director for the Nike Lady Gym Rats AAU program. Some of the recent players to go through the Lady Rats program are Jackie Young, Sydney Parrish, current Boilermaker Madison Layden, and others. He coached 62 players who went on to play collegiate basketball, including 41 at the Division I level.
Stephens was also a standout in basketball and football, playing both sports at Morehead State. The Louisville native averaged 7.9 yards per carry as a senior running back on the gridiron. Following his collegiate career, Stephens played in the North American Football League and Indoor Football League in the semi-professional ranks.
The new Boilermaker assistant coach was also a national high school women's basketball scout for ESPN and a writer for Indiana Basketball Magazine and PrepHoop Stars.
Stephens joins Katie Gearlds' staff in West Lafayette as the Boilermakers look to continue last season's success, culminating in the first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017.
