LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Former Lady Vols legend and 2007 women's basketball Hall of Fame Inductee Bridgett Gordon is the latest addition to the Aggies coaching staff, Head Coach Jody Adams announced on Friday.
Like Adams, Gordon stems from the tree of the late, legendary head coach, Pat Summitt, having won two national championships under her at Tennessee (1987, 1989).
"Coach Bridgette and I being Lady Vol sisters, winning ways are in our DNA." Coach Adams expressed. "Bridgette's success on the court as a colligate and professional player is genuinely uncommon. I love her ability to build relationships with student-athletes and empower them to be great. Her story is a true inspiration to all that meet her."
Gordon has built quite the basketball resume throughout her illustrious career as both a player and coach. She attended the University of Tennessee from 1985-89, where she played under the late great Pat Summitt. During that span, Gordon won two national championships (1987, 1989), a Final Four MVP (1989), SEC Female Athlete of the Year and SEC Player of the Year (1989), Four Time All-SEC First Team selection, 1986 SEC Freshman of the Year, two SEC Tournament MVP's (1988, 1989), two-time Kodak and Naismith All-American, she won a gold medal for Team USA at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, and was eventually named to the NCAA 25th anniversary Team and Team of the decade in the 1980s.
After wrapping up her career at Tennessee, Gordon played professional ball in the Italian and Turkish leagues overseas, where she won two FIBA European Cups (1994, 1995). She also played in the WNBA for the Sacramento Monarchs from 1997-98 before ending her playing career in 2000. In 2001, Gordon was rightfully inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame and later into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (2007) and State of Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (2012).
She began her coaching career in 2004, where she spent two years as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, before leaving to become a WNBA regional scout in 2006.
In 2007, Gordon returned to coaching Division I when she accepted a position at Georgia State to work under then-head coach Robert Murphy. She spent the next three seasons as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator for the Panthers before leaving in 2010 to work at Wichita State, where she would work under fellow former Lady Vol, Jody Adams.
Together, the pair would complete a total transformation of the Shocker program, leading them to unprecedented success in their seven years together. From 2010-17, the Shockers posted a 139-88 overall record, leading to five straight postseason appearances from 2010-15, which included three-straight MVC regular season and tournament titles from 2013-15, resulting in three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Adams and Gordon produced nine First Team All-MVC honorees, including 2015 MVC Player of the Year Alex Harden, who eventually went on to get drafted to the WNBA when the Phoenix Mercury selected her in the second round of the 2015 WNBA Draft.
After her time in Wichita was concluded, Gordon went on to coach at her alma mater Tennessee as an assistant under head coach Holly Warlick, where she helped the Volunteers to two NCAA Tournament appearances (2018, 2019) in her two years with the program.
In 2019, she left Tennessee to become an assistant at SMU, where she worked for one season before her second season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gordon spent the 2021-22 season at Kansas State, where she helped the team to a 20-13 overall record, leading them to their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2016 when they beat Washington State in the first round.
After one season in Manhattan, Gordon went on to coach at Cincinnati, where she was an assistant for the 2022-23 season.
Now, Gordon becomes the second addition to Jody Adams' staff in as many days as the pair look to continue the same success Adams and her squad had last season and carry it on to the 2023-24 season and Conference USA – the new home of Aggie Athletics.
