Purdue Women's Basketball Hires Kelly Komara As Associate Head Coach

Katie Gearlds and Purdue women's basketball are making changes on the coaching staff and bringing in a familiar face in the process. Purdue has hired former Boilermaker guard Kelly Komara as the program's new associate head coach. Komara replaces Beth Couture, who retired from coaching after seven seasons with the Boilermakers.

Komara returns to West Lafayette after a two-year stint at Marquette, where she was an assistant under head coach Megan Duffy. During her time in Milwaukee, she helped guide the Golden Eagles to the third round of the WNIT in 2022 and a nine seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2023.

Prior to her tenure with Marquette, Komara joined forces with former Purdue teammate Stephanie White on her staff at Vanderbilt. Komara was an assistant coach from 2016-2018 before becoming the Commodores' associate head coach from 2018-2021.

This will not be the first time Komara is on the sidelines for her alma mater. She was also an assistant coach under Sharon Versyp from 2014-2016. Komara has additional coaching experience at Auburn, Northwestern, Valparaiso, and Albany in various roles.

During her playing days, Komara was a standout guard for the Boilermakers. She helped lead Purdue to a National Championship in 1999 alongside White, Katie Douglas, and Ukari Figgs. She was named the 2002 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and was the 2001 NCAA Mideast Regional most outstanding player.

Komara finished her career 12th on Purdue's all-time scoring list with 1,266 points while adding 297 steals, 137 threes made, and 402 assists, all of which were in the top ten in program history.

Prior to her standout career in West Lafayette, she was named Indiana Miss Basketball in 1998, making her one of ten winners to suit up for the Boilermakers, including current guard Jayla Smith and Gearlds.

Komara returns to the Boilermakers as the team looks to build off of their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017.