Head coach Semeka Randall Lay named Necole Sterling as the assistant coach for the women’s basketball program in the Summer of 2022.
Prior to Winthrop, Sterling was an assistant coach at Northwest Florida State College for the past two seasons. In the 2022 season NWFSC won the Panhandle Conference title, the FCSAA Region 8 Championship and advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NJCAA Tournament. The following season saw NWFSC repeat as Panhandle Conference champions, finished runner-up in Region 8 and went on to capture the NJCAA National Championship.
At NWFSC, Sterling was responsible for assisting with all aspects of the women's basketball program, including recruitment of prospective student-athletes; practice planning; on-the-court coaching and individual player development; scouting opponents and game planning; non-conference game scheduling; monitoring of student-athlete academic progress and maintaining a collaborative working relationship with administrators and coaches in the athletic department, academic offices and alumni.
Prior to her time at NWFSC, Sterling served as the Director of Operations for the Willie Diggs Basketball Association in 2021, a girls AAU program and from 2018-21, was the Varsity Girls Basketball Assistant Coach at Tuscarora High School.
The Los Angeles, Calif. native attended and played at the University of Miami (FL) for two seasons and earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in 2015. Prior to being a Hurricane, Sterling spent her first two years of college at Gulf Coast State College. She averaged 12 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists and was named to the NJCAA All-Tournament team.
