We Speak Women's College Basketball

Coming Home: Penn State Turns to Lady Lion Legend Tanisha Wright to Rebuild Its Program

Published

7 months ago

March 19, 2026

Penn State is bringing one of its own home. The school named Tanisha Wright — one of the most decorated players in program history and a former WNBA head coach — as the seventh head coach of the Lady Lions on March 19, 2026.

Wright succeeds Carolyn Kieger, who was fired on March 5 after seven seasons in which Penn State went 84-123 and never reached the NCAA Tournament; the Lady Lions have not been to the tournament since 2014 and have not won the Big Ten Tournament since 1996. The task got harder within days: after Kieger’s firing, all 10 of Penn State’s remaining scholarship players entered the transfer portal, including leading scorer Kiyomi McMiller.

As a player at Penn State from 2001 to 2005, Wright was a three-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and three-time first-team All-Big Ten selection who scored 1,995 career points, played in 134 games — the second-most in program history — and helped the Lady Lions to Sweet 16 trips in 2002 and 2003 and the Elite Eight in 2004. Drafted 12th overall by Seattle in 2005, she played 14 WNBA seasons, won a championship with the Storm in 2010 and earned five WNBA All-Defensive First Team honors.

Wright’s coaching path ran from a Charlotte assistant job in 2017 to the Las Vegas Aces’ bench in 2020-21 and then three seasons as head coach of the Atlanta Dream, where she was the AP Coach of the Year in 2022, made back-to-back playoff appearances and developed Rhyne Howard into the 2022 Rookie of the Year; she spent 2025 as a Chicago Sky assistant.

“Penn State will always be home to me, and it is an incredible honor to return to this program as head coach,” Wright said in the school’s announcement. Athletic director Patrick Kraft said Wright “embodies everything this program stands for.” She was formally introduced on March 23, 2026.

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Five-Star Center Zaniya Johnson Commits to South Carolina

Five-star center Zaniya Johnson of Biloxi, Mississippi, committed to South Carolina over LSU, becoming Dawn Staley’s third five-star pledge of October for the Class of 2027.

Published

3 days ago

October 22, 2026

Royal Jones

Zaniya Johnson poses with South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley during her official visit to Columbia

Dawn Staley’s October run on the recruiting trail is officially a streak. Five-star center Zaniya Johnson announced Wednesday that she is taking her game to South Carolina, choosing the Gamecocks over finalist LSU and giving Staley her third five-star commitment of the month for the Class of 2027.

The 6-foot-4 post from Biloxi, Mississippi, is ranked No. 18 in ESPN’s SC Next 100 for the Class of 2027, and the 247Sports Composite has her at No. 16 overall and the No. 2 center in the class. She is the top-rated player in Mississippi.

“I truly believe [South Carolina] has everything I need and more to grow both on and off the court,” Johnson told ESPN. “South Carolina has a proven track record of developing post players, and having the opportunity to be part of a program like that was something I couldn’t pass up.”

Johnson visited Columbia on Oct. 2 and was spotted alongside Staley on the sideline before the Kentucky football game. She also took visits to Florida State and Texas A&M, and she canceled a scheduled Mississippi State visit after her South Carolina trip — an early sign of where this was headed. She made it official at a ceremony at her school on Oct. 21.

Johnson joins guards Taylor Brown, who committed on Oct. 3, and Jezelle “GG” Banks, the No. 4 overall player in the class, in South Carolina’s 2027 haul. After loading up on the perimeter, Staley now has her true center — a traditional back-to-the-basket post in the mold the Gamecocks love to build around.

As a junior, Johnson averaged 14.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. She passed 1,000 career points as a sophomore and 1,000 career rebounds as a junior, and she is a two-time Region Player of the Year. For a program with a proven record of developing post players, the fit in the paint is easy to see.

Photo: Johnson’s official visit to South Carolina (via ESPN)