Lindsay Edmonds - Women's Basketball Coach - Rice University Athletics (2024)

Entering her fourth season as head coach in 2023-24, Lindsay Edmonds has elevated the Owls back to a championship-caliber program and continues to shatter coaching records, securing Rice Athletics' first-ever American Athletic Conference title in the team's debut season in the conference.

Through her first three seasons with the Owls, Edmonds has the most wins (56), became the first coach in program history to open their Rice career with back-to-back-to-back winning seasonsand became the fastest coach to win a conference title in program history.

Her third season at the helm was a season for the ages, as the Owls entered the AAC Tournament as a 10 seed and proceeded to win four games in four days, knocking off the second and third-seeded teams en route to the AAC Championships. The Owls defeated East Carolina 61-41 in the championship game to secure the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, Rice's fourth trip to the big dance and first since 2019.

Malia Fisher was named AAC Tournament MVP,while Destiny Jackson and Sussy Ngulefac were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Rice became the lowest seed to ever win the AAC Tournament, with the previous lowest being a three seed.

The Owls saw two players surpass 1,000 career points, with Destiny Jackson and Malia Fisher becoming the 25th and 26th players in history to do so and the firsts under the Edmonds era. Edmonds also became the fastest coach to win 50 games with a 69-59 win at South Florida, surpassing the mark in just 81 games (10 games faster than the previous mark). Rice secured its first AAC win in the conference opener against Wichita State.

In just her second season as head coach, the 2022-23 Owls had a historic season finishing with a 23-9 (13-7 C-USA) record. Rice had the best start in program history at 9-0 featuring back-to-back wins over Power 5 opponents at Texas A&M and against TCU. The Owls also earned their first postseason appearance and win under Edmonds in the 2023 WNITagainst BYU.

In total, Rice defeated four current/future Power 5 schools on the season (Texas A&M, TCU, Houston, BYU). Edmonds was named ESPN's Coach of the Week following her team's win against the Horned Frogs. Rice also had two postseason honorees with Malia Fisher and Ashlee Austin earning All-C-USA Second Team honors.

Her first season with the Owls in 2021-22 saw a short-handed Rice team go 14-13 (8-9 C-USA). Despite losing four of five starters from the previous year's team, Edmonds and the Owls closed the 2021-22 season with a ton of momentum by winning nine of their final 15 games and advancing to the quarterfinals of the C-USA Championship with a convincing 80-62 win over Marshall in the second round.

Injuries limited the Owls to an eight-man rotation for much of the season, but a young Rice team with three freshmen in the starting lineup went 8-4 over their final 12 C-USA contests. Rice had three players ean All-C-USA postseason honors, with sophom*ore forward Ashlee Austin earning a spot on the Second Team. Malia Fisher was named to the All-Freshman Team while also earning All-Conference Honorable Mention accolades while Destiny Jackson also earned Honorable Mention honors in her first full season as the team's starting point guard.

Edmonds was named the sixth head coach in program history on April 23, 2021, coming to Rice after eight successful seasons with the Wolfpack, She served as an assistant coach from 2013-18, adding Recruiting Coordinator duties in 2018, before being elevated to associate head coach prior to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

During her tenure in Raleigh, N.C., Edmonds and head coach Wes Moore led the Wolfpack to an overall record of 190-65, including an 89-39 mark in the ACC, along with five NCAA Tournament appearances and three NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 berths (2018, 2019, 2021).

In her eight seasons with the Wolfpack, Edmonds has helped develop three WNBA Draft picks, including two first round selections in Kiara Leslie (R1-P10, 2019) and Markeisha Gatling (R1-P10, 2014).

The Wolfpack is coming off of a 2020-21 campaign in which Edmonds helped guide the team to their third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance and a 22-3 record. NC State won the ACC Tournament for a second straight year and finished the season ranked No. 7 in the WBCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Edmonds and the Wolfpack won the program’s first conference tournament since 1991 in 2019-20, posting a 28-4 overall record as they compiled the most single-season conference wins in program history.

In 2018-19 the Wolfpack achieved the longest winning streak (21 games) in program history and recorded the best start in program history (21-0) as well, advancing to their second straight Sweet 16. That same year, Edmonds helped bring in the No. 7 ranked recruiting class in the nation according to ESPN.

The year prior (2017-18), NC State won 26 games and returned to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007.

In her first season at NC State (2013-14), Edmonds helped lead the Pack to a 25-8 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance. After an 18-15 campaign in 2014-15 and a 20-11 season in 2015-16, Edmonds guided NC State to second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17 with a 23-9 record. That season, she also helped author upsets of four top-15 teams: No. 2 Notre Dame, at No. 6 Florida State, No. 12 Duke and at No. 9 Louisville.

Prior to her move to NC State, Edmonds was an assistant coach at James Madison University from 2009-13. In her four seasons with the Dukes, the team won two Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championships, played in two NCAA Tournaments and made two WNIT appearances.

Edmonds’ first collegiate coaching stop came at her alma mater, Appalachian State, from 2007-09. Edmonds was recruiting coordinator and worked with the Mountaineer backcourt. In 2005-06, she served as assistant coach at Andrew High School in High Point, N.C., and also coached the AAU elite Team Phoenix.

Edmonds (then Lindsay Smith) was a four-year starter and 1,000 point scorer at Appalachian State. She holds the school record for career three-pointers (177) and was a team co-captain in her final two seasons. She led the Mountaineers in assists during her junior and senior years.

Edmonds is a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., and holds a bachelor’s degree in health promotions and is also a graduate of the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy.

Edmonds is married to Ulrick Edmonds and the couple has three daughters – Nylah, Halyn and Ahlyna.