.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Xavier University Athletics
An injury led her to coaching: Now Billi Chambers is leading Xavier women’s basketball
05.31.23 | Women's Basketball, Featured
CINCINNATI - It takes poise, determination, and maturity to thrive in a negative situation.
For Billi Chambers, the road to becoming a coach began with some bad luck, and out of that, something wonderful happened.
Her freshman year at Hofstra, Chambers fractured her shin, derailing her college basketball playing career.
"It was not fun," said Chambers. "We thought it was more of a shin splint – took an x-ray and saw the dreaded black line. They put in a titanium pole and thought it wouldn't fracture again.
"But from that moment, it was another surgery for a pinched nerve. Now, you have a calcified vein. Well, it fractured again my senior year so it never really truly healed."
During that senior season, Chambers' coach at the time, Felisha Legette-Jack, who's now the head women's basketball coach at Syracuse, took a different approach to Chambers' injury.
"I wanted so badly to play for her and couldn't after about nine games," said Chambers. "She allowed me to come in and learn, sit in on meetings, watch film, learn the other side of it, and at that point, I was like, 'This is it. I'm doing this. I have to do this.'"
Chambers doesn't spend much time considering what her playing career might have looked like if not for that injury.
She knows where she is today, and she knows why.
Legette-Jack didn't discard Chambers because she was injured – she helped her make something out of nothing.
"It wasn't like, 'OK, you can't do anything for me, go sit at the end of the bench,'" Chambers said. "It was – let me teach you, let's learn, let's grow."
Chambers and coach Jack still talk today. They spoke the day Chambers accepted a new job became the ninth head coach in Xavier women's basketball history.
"She was crying. I was crying. She's just someone with unwavering support who believes in you and pushes you," said Chambers.
But it wasn't exactly a straight line for Chambers to become a coach.
"I went so backwards," Chambers said. "I didn't get a job right out of college, I was quality assurance … which was the most boring job you could ever have."
One of Chambers' former teammates worked at the East Coast Conference and told Chambers they needed a support person for the conference's commissioner.
Chambers jumped at the chance and quickly went from the conference office's supporting commissioner to interim commissioner, then on-campus as a compliance administrator, and finally a Division II assistant coach at Molloy College.
From there, Chambers made her way down the east coast to UMBC as recruiting coordinator, then Virginia Tech, which led to Chambers' first head coaching opportunity in 2013.
Chambers spent 10 years at Iona University, where she led the Gaels to two NCAA Tournament appearances (2016, 2023), won two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championships (2014, 2023), and two MAAC conference tournament championships (2016, 2023).
At each stop along the way, Chambers has been defined by her presence – the ability to be where her feet are.
"If you had interviewed me at Molloy when I was an assistant athletic director for compliance and assistant basketball coach, I was there. I was going to be the VP of that institution and I was going to be there for life," she said. "And I've never thought about really going anywhere else. It's always been about true feeling and fit for me."
After last season at Iona –26-7, 18-2 in the MAAC – Chambers saw the job opening at Xavier. As she connected with the administration and eventually toured the campus, and learned about the school, Chambers felt like it was similar to Iona in a lot of ways.
"It's bigger, right? Bigger facilities. Bigger resources. Bigger basketball in the Big East," said Chambers. "It just felt like this could be a fit. You obviously have to step your game up, but Xavier fits with what I've been doing each step of the way. It felt like a no-brainer."
And Chambers knows the challenge ahead of her and her staff. Xavier wants its women's basketball program to be competitive and start climbing out of the bottom half of the Big East Conference.
Chambers wants that as well.
"Well, I want to win," she said. "You've seen that this program has been successful – haven't seen that success once they entered the Big East on the women's basketball side. It's a totally different animal. This is a major challenge, but I'm excited about challenges and that drives me.
"Looking at what we did at Iona, we just did this. We just rebuilt. We had to totally overhaul how we played and it was our program. We started off incredibly successful and went through the lean years and had to rebuild it, but I think that makes us ready for this challenge."
If Chambers has learned anything, it's that she knows no one is defined by their situation, only how they adapt to it. It could be an injury that forces you to redefine your expectations. Whatever it is, change is not easy. It's not supposed to be.
Chambers knows about change and she's equipped to handle it.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, she worked with Iona's sports psychologist and learned how to meditate.
"That has been so transformational for me," she said. "I feel like when I'm consistent with that practice, change becomes easy, the chaos becomes easier to handle. And not to say that anything thrown my way is going to be like water off my back because you still have those moments like 'What am I doing?' But I'm excited about it. You approach it like you're in the right place at the right time. This was meant to be. Everything that happened has happened for this opportunity."
Chambers loves the coaching staff she's put together and she said her new players have made her feel incredibly welcome.
"They've been great, like whatever we've gotta do, let's figure it out," Chambers said. "They want to win. I want to win. And it's clear the administration wants to win. Everybody's excited about the opportunity to win and the ability to win. We're gonna be aggressive at all angles and try to get it done as fast and sustainably as possible."
For Billi Chambers, the road to becoming a coach began with some bad luck, and out of that, something wonderful happened.
Her freshman year at Hofstra, Chambers fractured her shin, derailing her college basketball playing career.
"It was not fun," said Chambers. "We thought it was more of a shin splint – took an x-ray and saw the dreaded black line. They put in a titanium pole and thought it wouldn't fracture again.
"But from that moment, it was another surgery for a pinched nerve. Now, you have a calcified vein. Well, it fractured again my senior year so it never really truly healed."
During that senior season, Chambers' coach at the time, Felisha Legette-Jack, who's now the head women's basketball coach at Syracuse, took a different approach to Chambers' injury.
"I wanted so badly to play for her and couldn't after about nine games," said Chambers. "She allowed me to come in and learn, sit in on meetings, watch film, learn the other side of it, and at that point, I was like, 'This is it. I'm doing this. I have to do this.'"
Chambers doesn't spend much time considering what her playing career might have looked like if not for that injury.
She knows where she is today, and she knows why.
Legette-Jack didn't discard Chambers because she was injured – she helped her make something out of nothing.
"It wasn't like, 'OK, you can't do anything for me, go sit at the end of the bench,'" Chambers said. "It was – let me teach you, let's learn, let's grow."
Chambers and coach Jack still talk today. They spoke the day Chambers accepted a new job became the ninth head coach in Xavier women's basketball history.
"She was crying. I was crying. She's just someone with unwavering support who believes in you and pushes you," said Chambers.
But it wasn't exactly a straight line for Chambers to become a coach.
"I went so backwards," Chambers said. "I didn't get a job right out of college, I was quality assurance … which was the most boring job you could ever have."
One of Chambers' former teammates worked at the East Coast Conference and told Chambers they needed a support person for the conference's commissioner.
Chambers jumped at the chance and quickly went from the conference office's supporting commissioner to interim commissioner, then on-campus as a compliance administrator, and finally a Division II assistant coach at Molloy College.
From there, Chambers made her way down the east coast to UMBC as recruiting coordinator, then Virginia Tech, which led to Chambers' first head coaching opportunity in 2013.
Chambers spent 10 years at Iona University, where she led the Gaels to two NCAA Tournament appearances (2016, 2023), won two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championships (2014, 2023), and two MAAC conference tournament championships (2016, 2023).
At each stop along the way, Chambers has been defined by her presence – the ability to be where her feet are.
"If you had interviewed me at Molloy when I was an assistant athletic director for compliance and assistant basketball coach, I was there. I was going to be the VP of that institution and I was going to be there for life," she said. "And I've never thought about really going anywhere else. It's always been about true feeling and fit for me."
After last season at Iona –26-7, 18-2 in the MAAC – Chambers saw the job opening at Xavier. As she connected with the administration and eventually toured the campus, and learned about the school, Chambers felt like it was similar to Iona in a lot of ways.
"It's bigger, right? Bigger facilities. Bigger resources. Bigger basketball in the Big East," said Chambers. "It just felt like this could be a fit. You obviously have to step your game up, but Xavier fits with what I've been doing each step of the way. It felt like a no-brainer."
And Chambers knows the challenge ahead of her and her staff. Xavier wants its women's basketball program to be competitive and start climbing out of the bottom half of the Big East Conference.
Chambers wants that as well.
"Well, I want to win," she said. "You've seen that this program has been successful – haven't seen that success once they entered the Big East on the women's basketball side. It's a totally different animal. This is a major challenge, but I'm excited about challenges and that drives me.
"Looking at what we did at Iona, we just did this. We just rebuilt. We had to totally overhaul how we played and it was our program. We started off incredibly successful and went through the lean years and had to rebuild it, but I think that makes us ready for this challenge."
If Chambers has learned anything, it's that she knows no one is defined by their situation, only how they adapt to it. It could be an injury that forces you to redefine your expectations. Whatever it is, change is not easy. It's not supposed to be.
Chambers knows about change and she's equipped to handle it.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, she worked with Iona's sports psychologist and learned how to meditate.
"That has been so transformational for me," she said. "I feel like when I'm consistent with that practice, change becomes easy, the chaos becomes easier to handle. And not to say that anything thrown my way is going to be like water off my back because you still have those moments like 'What am I doing?' But I'm excited about it. You approach it like you're in the right place at the right time. This was meant to be. Everything that happened has happened for this opportunity."
Chambers loves the coaching staff she's put together and she said her new players have made her feel incredibly welcome.
"They've been great, like whatever we've gotta do, let's figure it out," Chambers said. "They want to win. I want to win. And it's clear the administration wants to win. Everybody's excited about the opportunity to win and the ability to win. We're gonna be aggressive at all angles and try to get it done as fast and sustainably as possible."
2025-26 Meet the Musketeers: Denise Neves
Saturday, September 20
2025-26 Meet the Musketeers: Payton Richards
Friday, September 19
2025-26 Meet the Musketeers: Penda Dieng
Monday, September 08
2025-26 Meet the Musketeers: Audia Young
Thursday, September 04