As the college basketball season quickly approaches, Illinois State University women’s basketball coach Kristen Gillespie expects to keep improving the team.
The team’s first game of the season takes place Nov. 3, when they will host the Dayton Flyers.
Gillespie said the Redbirds are a process-driven team.
“We kind of want to live in that space of, every day can we take a step to becoming the team we want to become?” she said. “Every player in that locker room came to Illinois State with hopes to win a championship, to play in the NCAA Tournament. That will always be our North Star of our ultimate goal.”
Last April, the Redbirds advanced to the WNIT semifinal round, or Fab 4, for the fourth time in program history. Gillespie said the ISU community rallied behind the team, and the team had a lot of momentum she believes will carry on.
"There was just such a buzz with our program, I think you saw it in the crowd today for an exhibition game [against Illinois Wesleyan],” she said. “But the players that are on our roster from last year, I think that gave them a taste. They did not like how it ended in Evansville in our conference tournament. We have some really prideful young women.”
Gillespie said seniors and freshman players alike want to see a fruitful postseason.
As Gillespie brought her past five ISU teams to the postseason, she understands if fans see it as an expectation of the program moving forward.
“That’s what I was hired to do eight years ago, and it’s just stinks because I’m so competitive,” she said. “Being a mid-major program, it is really challenging because you have to be perfect in your conference tournament to get to the NCAA Tournament. Very few times do we have at-large bids.”
Still, Gillespie has made strides to improve the program since her hiring nine years ago. At the time she started, the program was arguably at one of its lowest points after four straight losing seasons. She said she’s not done bettering the team.
“There’s always more. I think once you achieve a little success, the scary thing about success, it kind of breeds complacency,” she said. “I think our staff has done a good job of just really searching for our blind spots and it’s not enough. We’ve been in the tournament one time. We’re greedy, we want to get to there.”
Gillespie’s goal is to ensure every player on the team could say they competed in the NCAA Tournament.
In Gillespie’s nine years at ISU, many facets of college sports have changed, including Name, Image and Likeness deals, expansion of student transfers and eligibility. She said coaches like herself and other teams have to adapt, or risk being left behind.
“How do we roll with the punches of what’s being given to us by the governance of the NCAA? How do we roster attention, how do we love on our kids, how do we make this place the best place, so no one wants to leave?” Gillespie said. “We don’t have the most money, we can’t go open against Power 4s, but we have an awful lot to sell.”
Since the changes have done more to empower a student-athlete compared to years past, she said the relationship between students and coaches has become more transactional.
“And that is very worrisome. One of our core values is gratitude in our program, and I think it starts in recruiting process of recruiting the right individuals … that understand your core values,” said Gillespie. “Recruiting the right parents to your program because ultimately those are going to be their advisors and just building those relationships where at the end of the day, college athletics is about getting a degree, getting an education and competing in the sport you love surrounded by a group of people that you love.”
Gillespie said you recruit parents just as much as their daughters to make sure everyone’s values align.
Gillespie’s contract continues through the 2028-29 season. She said she is “blessed” to work at ISU and has no plans to look elsewhere for work.
“25 years ago, or 26 years ago I got into this job to impact lives and coach the game I grew up loving,” she said. “My dad coached, my grandfather, my uncle and I just have to keep reminding myself I am living out my dream. Yes, there’s some more challenges but at the end of the day, I still get to do what I’ve dreamt about as a kid.”
