Whitney Corley has been named interim head women’s basketball coach at Southwestern College.  She will take over from Dave Denly who accepted the head women’s basketball coach position at Bellevue University in Nebraska last month.

“This is the job I have dreamed of since my playing career at SC ended,” Corley says.  “I had a great experience playing for Coach Denly and getting my undergraduate degree here.  I got the opportunity to get some experience from some other coaches in other programs with the idea of bringing that back to this program.  I feel very lucky and blessed to get this opportunity because this program and this school were so good to me.”

Corley was the assistant women’s basketball coach at SC last season.  She played for the Builders and Denly from 2003 to 2005.  Corley earned honorable mention all-conference in her first season at SC before earning KCAC Player of the Year honors in her senior campaign.  She is ranked second all-time in three-pointers made in Southwestern Lady Builder history.  In two seasons, she made 211 three-pointers; Andrea Mohr is the all-time leader with 265 and played four seasons at SC. Corley graduated from Southwestern in 2006.  After her playing career ended, she spent one year as a student assistant coach at SC and then was a graduate assistant coach at Fort Hays State University.  She became the assistant women’s basketball coach at Garden City Community College in 2008 and spent the next six seasons in that position before returning to Southwestern College. 

The Lady Builders received 87 votes in the final 2015 NAIA division II women’s basketball coaches’ top 25 poll. Southwestern posted a 22-10 overall record, and finished second in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 13-5 mark against conference opponents. The Lady Builders won their second KCAC tournament championship in the last three years, and advanced to the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa, for the fifth-straight season.

The Lady Builders will return 12 members of its 2014-15 squad for the 2015-16 season.

“The girls coming back are excited, ready for something new and fresh but they also understand that there is a formula for success that has worked for almost 20 years so moving away from that won’t happen a whole lot. I think this has been comforting to the returners,” Corley says.  “They know that I have had experience with Coach Denly and they seem to be comfortable with the transition because it is a little more familiar to them than bringing someone new into the program.”

Corley will be interim coach during the 2015-16 year. 

The Lady Builders will open their season Oct. 30 versus Bacone University at the Oklahoma Wesleyan Classic.