Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball head coach Shea Ralph made the trip this week to Birmingham, Alabama, to address the media at the SEC Tipoff ‘25. Expectations are high for Ralph’s crew this year as they come off of a 23-10 (9-7 SEC) record in 2023-24. Ralph’s coaching contract was extended earlier this week, and it didn’t take long for her to address that on the stage.
“It’s hard to put what [the contract extension] means into words for me. When we came here, my husband and I, we had extensive conversations with Candice Storey Lee and Chancellor Diermeier about our vision for the program and bringing it to national prominence,” Ralph said. “This wasn’t a stepping stone for me. This is somewhere I want to be for a long time.”
Vanderbilt’s 2023-24 season was its best in over a decade, as Ralph led the Commodores to a berth in the NCAA Tournament and a win over Columbia. This year, she’s dreaming bigger.
Ralph also spoke on what the Commodores’ roster will look like this season, particularly in the wake of Jordyn Cambridge’s departure. Cambridge spent six years with the program but ran out of eligibility at the end of last season. While the void is impossible to fill, Ralph knows that she’s got a group of players ready to step up.
“When you lose a player like Jordyn Cambridge, it’s hard to fill those shoes. There’s not going to be anyone that replicates what she was able to do for our team,” Ralph said. “I think the additions we made this year are going to be powerful in their own right. Leilani [Kapinus] and Jane Nwaba[ are] both incredibly athletic, strong guards [that are] very versatile with great experience at a high level.”
It isn’t all about transfers for Ralph, though, as Vanderbilt brought in a pair of first-years that’ll be ready to compete early and often.
“We have two freshmen that I think are going to turn some heads as well. Mikayla Blakes has been one of our best players in practice every single day,” Ralph said. “[She brings] a fearlessness that I haven’t seen in a freshman in a long time. And Trinity Wilson [is] 6’4 big teddy bear [that’s] very, very skilled…There’s a lot of great diversity to our new group.”
Outside of her four newcomers, Ralph is excited about the team she’s brought back.
“It’s huge to have retention. Right now, one of the things I’m really proud of is that we’re transformational… I don’t know that I’m capable of being a transformational coach,” Ralph said. “We really do try to pour into our student-athletes. It’s much like parenting.
Ralph knows that it hasn’t been an easy process, and she knows that this year isn’t the endpoint. For her, building Vanderbilt up means creating a winning culture.
“We didn’t have players here that had won before. They didn’t know what a winning culture or a winning team [looked like] or what it looked like to be a winner,” Ralph said. “Last year was a huge stepping stone for us in that way.”
One of the players who is helping Ralph reimagine what it means to be a winner is Jordyn Oliver, who also made the trip to Birmingham.
“Jordyn Oliver has one of the highest IQs [of anybody] that I’ve been around. She understands the game of basketball,” Ralph said. “Jordyn’s not the player that needs to shoot the ball 20 times, she doesn’t need the spotlight on her, she doesn’t need all the attention. She just wants to do whatever it takes for our team to win.”
“We focused a ton on laying the foundation of our culture and I feel like our culture is in a pretty good place,” Ralph said. “I really love coaching this team. They’re a really good group, they’re competitive, they want to win [and] they came here to win. We’re in year four [and] we just came off a really successful season — our most successful season in a decade. The energy is really good right now, and they understand the assignment.”
Ralph couldn’t help but get excited with the season right around the corner.
“We’re ready to do special things this year.”
Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball will start its season on Nov. 4 with a matchup against Lipscomb in Memorial Gymnasium.
