Carol Duncan - Women's Basketball Coach - Murray State University Athletics

Carol Duncan

Title:
Assistant Coach

Carol Duncan begins her second season as an assistant coach at Murray State. Duncan is the recruiting coordinator for the Racers, works with post players on the court, assists with academics, opponent scouting, scheduling and strenght and conditioning.

The Nappanee, Ind., native comes to MSU after spending two years on the coaching staff at Big Ten Conference member Northwestern University. While working for the Wildcats, Duncan was responsible for working with post players, film exchange, scouting opponents and was the alumni liaison.

Prior to her coaching stint at Northwestern, Duncan played at national powerhouse Purdue University from 2002-2006. She was a four-year forward for the Boilermakers and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten performer while helping Purdue to two Big Ten Tournament Championships. She played in 122 games during that span as the Boilermakers made the NCAA Tournament in each of her four years in West Lafayette, including two appearances in the Sweet 16 and one trip to the Elite Eight.

“Carol brings to the table valuable experience having played and coached in the Big Ten, she played for one the top coaches in the game at Purdue in Kristy Curry,” Cross said. “Carol has experienced great success as a student and uses that experience to help guide our student-athletes.”

Duncan earned her bachelor’s degree in English and minors in communications, psychology, history and women’s studies from Purdue. She is just shy of earning a master’s degree in Sports Administration at Northwestern, needing only to finish her thesis.

From her first meeting with her new boss, Duncan found it easy to make comparisons between Kristy Curry and Rob Cross.

“You can feel their energy and soul when you talk to them and you know they are good people, care about the players,” Duncan said, citing similarities between the two. “They may overextend themselves sometimes, but that’s just because they want to do the best they can.”

Duncan finished her prep career as NorthWood High School’s career leader in rebounds and second on the career scoring charts. She was a three-time all-conference and all-area selection and was named to the Indianapolis Star All-Star Team as a junior and senior. Duncan helped NorthWood to the 1999 Indiana Class 3A State Championship.