Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A meteoric rise may be underselling Alexis Tate. Tate was named Point University’s new women’s head basketball coach on Wednesday. 

Each of the last few seasons has looked different for the new coach, as she went from player and graduate assistant to assistant head coach to, now, head coach in the span of three years. Tate will use all those experiences to lead the Skyhawks into the next chapter. 

Tate follows in the footsteps of Hall of Famer and Former Head Coach Tory Wooley, who had been at the helm for 12 years. 

“I’ve had a great mentor from Coach Tory, who was able to run this program for 12 years so now I think it’s time to continue to make him proud and make this community proud by growing this program,” Tate said.

Tate played four years at Anderson University, a small private school in Anderson, South Carolina. Although she a product of Auburn High School, so when she received a call from an old friend and assistant coach at Point, Charity Brown, asking if she would be interested in a graduate assistant position,  she jumped. 

“They took a chance on me and I played my fifth year here at point, I had a really bad knee injury, I tore my ACL. So I stepped into the full role of being a GA.”

Coaching was not necessarily part of Tate’s plan. Her father and stepfather were both coaches, but Tate was unsure if that was her path. 

“I tried to explore different routes, and every time I went somewhere else, [God] always made a movement or moved a mountain for me to get back into basketball,” Tate said. 

As a player, Tate was eligible for to play for a fifth year at Anderson but was not going to take it. Since the call about the position at Point, Tate has been along for the ride. She attributes her current head coaching position to her faith. 

“I was kind of burned out with this basketball thing…so I’ve learned that my my idea of what I wanted for my life, is completely different from what God’s calling has been for me.” 

During her second year as a GA the team won the conference championship.

“That was the first one in school history, which was really cool. And then after that, there was an opportunity for me to move forward, and I became the assistant,” Tate said. 

“That has been the biggest learning curve…how I can use this, how basketball has been the vehicle to serving others,” Tate said. 

While jumping from a graduate assistant to head coach in such a short amount of time has been night in day in some respects, there are some similarities.

“The biggest thing that stayed consistent through that was how I was able to serve and mentor the young ladies that were before me, so in whatever regards that looked like,” she explained. 

“I was able to work players out, and I was hands-on in practice [as a GA]. But as an assistant, it’s more demanding. It requires a lot more patience and a lot more grace, and not just with my players, but with myself.”

A benefit to the quick transition is that she can empathize and relate to her players more than most coaches. She was a player not long ago.

“[The players] always supported me and understood, you know, the position that I was in and they wanted what was best for the team as well,” Tate said. “So I haven’t really had any lows in regards to my age. If anything, I think it has been more beneficial, because I can relate better to them. I understand what they’ve gone through as student-athletes.”

When asked why she chose to stay a Skyhawk, Tate’s answer was immediate.

“The people, the people here, the support system that I’ve had from administration, peers and even the student-athletes…everybody has been very supportive and very loving and gracious.” 

She added, “They’ve seen me fall. They’ve seen me in my greatest moments, and they took a chance on me, and in times when I didn’t see anything for myself, they saw it before me….There are so many good things I can say about the school and just the atmosphere, definitely the way they serve others and just love and support each other.” 

As for this upcoming season, Tate is excited to get her team together and start to work. While potential is there for all of the players, some will have more eyes on them. 

“One that’s sticking out to me the most is Shakira Wilson….She had some really good moments in the last season, breaking records, shooting the ball well. So I’m really excited to just see how she grows and matures on and off the court,” Tate said. 

While Tate is a competitor first and foremost, her focus this season is seeing growth in her players.

“I’m just really excited about giving my players experiences and being able to interact with the community, obviously wins and losses like I love competing,” she said. “So just seeing them grow as people, as well as being able to compete.”

The Skyhawks will begin their 2024-2025 campaign on October 26 at 2 p.m. ET, at home against Spartanburg Methodist University. 

“This program is gonna shock some people. I believe we will shock some people within this new era,” Tate said.