Ashlee Kelly's Journey into Coaching Basketball

CINCINNATI - It may not always seem like things happen for a reason, but in time, what's meant to be usually finds a way.

Ashlee Kelly grew up in PIttsburgh. She played college basketball at Quinnipiac University. After college, Kelly went overseas to play professionally, but after one season she decided to hang up her playing shoes and move home to be closer to her family.

"And at that point, it was late – it was in August, and in college basketball, coaching positions really aren't available," said Kelly. "So I got into the corporate world for about eight months, and it was great, but it wasn't for me.

"I am competitive to the bone. I've always been competitive and I need not only competitiveness, but a career field that's going to allow me to make an impact as well."

She knew she wanted basketball to be a part of her life after she was done playing.

Competition and the chance to make an impact made it easy for Kelly to fall in love with coaching.

That's why she's still coaching today – with the same vitality she had when she started.

"I really loved the experience of teaching younger players," said Kelly, who arrived at that realization while she was still playing.

She'd travel to different summer camps. And year after year, Kelly found joy in seeing how much players had grown and progressed.

It was a bit unexpected when Tricia Fabbri, Kelly's coach at Quinnipiac, called her while she was still working in the corporate world.

Fabbri learned there was an opening at Mercy College, and she knew Kelly might be interested.

"So I made the jump," said Kelly.

It was a foot in the door. And it wasn't just basketball. There were a lot of hats for Kelly to wear. But it was a start.

"It was compliance. It was senior administrative work," said Kelly. "That's actually how I met Billi."

Before Billi Chambers was the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Iona University, and long before she was recently named the women's coach at Xavier, she was an administrator at Malloy College.

Mercy happened to be one of Malloy's conference opponents.

"I didn't meet Billi on the basketball side," said Kelly. "We would go to the AD conference meetings together. That's where our relationship started. We really enjoyed one another on the professional side of things and thought each other did things the right way."

Chambers eventually left Malloy for UMBC to coach full time, and Kelly left Mercy to coach full time at Iona.

Not long after that, Chambers got the head coaching job at Iona, and "it was a no-brainer to stay with her," said Kelly.

After 10 years together at Iona, Kelly and Chambers developed a bond, which is a big reason why Kelly followed Chambers to Xavier as her Associate Head Coach.

"As you go through life and you experience different things, certain things become more important than others," said Kelly. "And for me, that's making sure I love what I'm doing with the people that I'm doing it with. I enjoy every minute that I get to come into the office to work with these players, but also to help Billi build the program at Iona and now doing it here at Xavier. It's challenging. But I love challenges. And it's fun."

When Chambers was interviewing for the Xavier job, Kelly said she made it clear that if she got the job, she wanted Kelly to come with her. They'd already run a program together, and through that there was loyalty and a connection that was bigger than basketball.

"I knew that I had to take the time to sit back and decide what was going to be my next path," Kelly said. "Life experiences have guided my path. I'm very much OK with helping someone build something – not resume pushing, trying to become a head coach. It's more, am I happy where my feet are? Am I happy with who I'm doing it with? Am I appreciated?

"And I am. That's why it was a no-brainer to make the jump with her."

It's a new challenge at Xavier. But it's not an unfamiliar challenge. And it helps that Kelly's doing this with someone she trusts. It also helps that they've faced similar challenges together before.

"We just went through this at Iona. You learn the things that maybe you would have done differently," said Kelly. "I think that blueprint is already laid as a foundation. It's going to be very different. There are different players. Different administrators, different everything here. But the blueprint in the foundation is laid. Now it's just about building on top of that. I don't think that you can script it – college basketball is ever changing. But as long as the foundation is solid, I think we can only grow from there and I'm excited."

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Ashlee Kelly's Journey into Coaching Basketball

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Ashlee Kelly's Journey into Coaching Basketball

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