Murray State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Adds Barr, Olsen To Staff
6/5/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Women's basketball first-year head coach Jody Adams announced the hiring of assistant coaches Kerensa Barr and Tate Olsen to her staff.
Barr comes to Murray State from Missouri, where she played four seasons for the Tigers and served as an assistant coach for the last two seasons. She earned bachelor's degrees in finance and banking and real estate from Missouri in 2003 and earned her master's in business administration from Missouri in 2005.
As a player, at the time of her graduation, she held Mizzou career records in assists (489) and free-throw percentage (.812). She ranked second in career steals (242) and career three-point field-goals attempted (319) and third in career three-pointers made (109). She held the top two single-season free-throw marks (.885 in 2001-02 and .864 in 2002-03) and had three of the top 10 single-season assists marks (159 in 2002-03 (3rd), 148 in 2000-01 (4th-tie) and 124 in 2001-02 (10th)) and two of the top 10 single-season steals marks (75 in 2002-03 (9th) and 69 in 2000-01 (10th)). She was also a member of the Tigers' 1,000-point club, finishing her career ranked 17th with 1,186 career points.
She was a team captain for three seasons -- including Mizzou's 2001 run to the Sweet Sixteen -- and was a member of the Big 12 All-Star European Tour. She was invited to the Team USA basketball tryouts. A true student-athlete, she was a CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning Dean's List honors in all eight of her semesters at Missouri. She was a Sporting News/March of Dimes Socrates Award national finalist and a Women's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year national semifinalist.
She came to Missouri after earning the highest honor a girls' basketball player can earn in the state, Miss Show-Me Basketball, as a senior at West Plains (Mo.) High School in 1999.
As an assistant coach with the Tigers, she was responsible for the development of point guards, shooting guards and forwards. She also worked with opponent scouting reports and pre-game warm-ups. She was responsible for all recruiting correspondence, assisted with the planning and administering of official and unofficial visits and evaluated prospects at high school and NCAA-certified events.
Away from the bench, she has served as a color analyst for Missouri women's basketball games for Cumulus Broadcasting's KFRU-AM in Columbia, Mo., for two seasons, and was a personal banking representative for UMB Bank.
A native of West Plains, Barr met Adams through Tiger head coach Cindy Stein.
"My father is a coach, and my mother is a teacher," Barr said, "so I always said that I never wanted to be a coach or a teacher, so I graduated with a degree in business. After that, I realized that I wanted to have a career in athletics, and that I wanted to coach, so I became a graduate assistant at Missouri. Growing up with my father, I've always been a student of the game, and during that time that I was broadcasting the games, and taking a step back like that, I realized that I wanted to be a part of athletics.
"I'll be working with the guards, as well as being involved with scouting, recruiting and other things. Eventually, I would like to become a head coach, and Jody will be a great person to learn from, plus the experience of making a difference here at Murray State."
Olsen comes to MSU from Southern Illinois, where he served as a graduate assistant coach with the Salukis for two seasons alongside Adams, who was an associate head coach on that staff.
Olsen earned his master's in physical education from SIU last May. On the bench, he was responsible for film exchange and video editing as well as overseeing the practice players, participating in other administrative duties with the Saluki program.
Olsen earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Oregon State in 2005, where he served as a women's basketball undergraduate assistant coach. At OSU, he was involved with film exchange and video editing, and took part as a practice player throughout his scholastic career at Oregon State.
For a year, he was an intern with the OSU Beaver Sports Properties, working with market and client research the creation and assembly of promotional materials and game-day management.
A native of Medford, Ore., Olsen enjoys being active outdoors, including water skiing, wake boarding and boating.
"I'll be working with the posts," Olsen said. "That will be my primary area. I'll also be working with video computer software and recruiting, and anything else that's needed.
"It's exciting, but at the same time, it's different because I've always had school. As a graduate assistant, I was working towards my master's while I was coaching at the same time. Now, I can focus all of my energies on the job, which is good! I'm in a good position, working with Jody. She's a good teacher, and I'm in a spot where I can learn and progress."
"I am very happy to add Kerensa and Tate to our staff," said Adams. "Their individual experiences, their energy and their passion for the game will enhance our program in many ways, and they will be excellent additions to and ambassadors for Murray State University. Kerensa brings a wealth of experience as a Sweet 16 player and being the third assistant coach at Missouri. She has known success and will bring that with her to Murray State. Tate's experience at SIU with the big turnaround we had and the conference title we won shows that he has not only the will to win but the will to prepare to win, and his work ethic is second to none."
