Murray State University Athletics
Kleifgen Joins Women's Basketball Coaching Staff
5/1/2024 9:05:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Coach Rechelle Turner Officially Adds Kayla Kleifgen to 2023-24 Staff
Murray State women's basketball and Head Coach Rechelle Turner announced on Wednesday the hiring of Kayla Kleifgen as an assistant coach for the program.Â
"Kayla is an outstanding addition to our coaching staff," Coach Turner said. "She will bring the energy and perspective of a younger coach, paired with the wisdom and experience gained from already collecting eight seasons of Division 1 experience. Kayla's seven seasons as a recruiting coordinator during her career at Northern Kentucky and Marquette provides our staff with another gifted talent evaluator who has shown a tremendous ability to build rapport with high level players and get them to campus. We must always broaden our recruiting reach into new areas to pursue championships in the Missouri Valley Conference, and we know Kayla will be of great benefit in that area. Perhaps most importantly, Kayla shares the family values and belief in building relationships that serve as the bedrock of our culture with Murray State women's basketball. We are excited to welcome Kayla and her family to Racer Nation!"
Kleifgen served as an assistant coach at Marquette during the 2023-24 season, helping lead the Golden Eagles to a 23-9 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Marquette made history during the same season with the best start in program history at 12-0.
Prior to her stint with Marquette, Kleifgen served six seasons at Northern Kentucky as the recruiting coordinator and was promoted to associate head coach during the 2022-23 campaign.
While at NKU, she helped the Norse to their first 20-win season at the Division 1 level in 2019-20 and helped guide the program to its best ever season in Division 1 in 2021-22 with a 21-8 record.Â
Kelifgen helped recruit and develop forward Grayson Rose. At NKU, Rose became the first player in program history to be named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.Â
Prior to NKU, Kelifgen spent one year at Kentucky as the team's staff support associate where she assisted with the daily operations of the program and assisted with camps.
As a player, Kleifgen was a four-year player at Eckerd College where she tied the career mark by appearing in 110 games over her career. She ranks second all-time in assists (406), sixth in made free throws (267), 12th in free-throw percentage (.740), 14th in made three-pointers (67), 15th in three-point percentage (.310), 16th in steals (118) and 18th in points (765) for the Tritons. She helped lead Eckerd to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015 and graduated as only the third player in program history to finish with over 700 points and 400 assists.
Kelifgen earned a degree in biology from Eckerd in 2015.
