Ketara Chapel - Women's Basketball Coach

Ketara Chapel

Title:
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

Ketara Chapel enters her second season as an assistant coach with the Lady Raiders in 2026-27.

The Lady Raiders broke streaks and records in 2025-26, posting a 26-8 overall record and 12-6 Big 12 record. After being picked 13th in the Big 12 preseason poll and finishing tied for fourth in the conference, Texas Tech recorded its highest conference finish since the 2012-13 season, its most overall wins since the 2002-03 season and its most Big 12 wins since the 2004-05 season. Chapel helped the Lady Raiders to their best start in program history at 19-0 and to a national ranking for the first time since January 2012, spending 12-consecutive weeks in the AP top-25. With the 19-0 start to the year, Texas Tech tied its longest win streak in a single season in program history with 19 straight wins (Jan. 27, 1992 – April 4, 1993), the same year Tech won the national championship.

Tallying three top-15 wins in 2025-26, Chapel aided the Lady Raiders to their first sweep of Baylor in a single season since 2003-04. The team's first win against the Bears on Dec. 21, 2025 snapped a 31-game Baylor winning streak dating back to 2011 and was also Tech's first win at Baylor since Feb. 8, 2004. Tech added another win over Baylor on Feb. 18 in Lubbock, 87-56. The 31-point win margin was the best against a ranked opponent since at least 2000 and the second largest win over Baylor in the last 30 years. Beginning conference play with a 6-0 start, the best start to conference since 2000-01, the Scarlet and Black posted its first win in Morgantown, W.Va., since Jan. 14, 2015 and only the third time in program history winning in Mountaineer territory. The Lady Raiders also earned their first win in program history over Cincinnati, a team Tech was previously 0-3 all-time against. With their wins at West Virginia and at Cincinnati, the Lady Raiders posted back-to-back road conference wins for the first time since 2004-05. The Lady Raiders also began Big 12 play with a 6-0 record, the best start to conference since 2000-01. Texas Tech earned its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013 and got a win in the tournament for the first time since 2005 after defeating Villanova in the Round of 64. Chapel coached multiple All-Big 12 selections in the Big 12 Sixth Player of the Year and All-Big 12 Second Team selection, Snudda Collins, All-Big 12 First Team selection, Bailey Maupin, and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection in Jalynn Bristow.

Prior to Texas Tech, Chapel spent the previous four years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with the Auburn Tigers (2021-25). While at Auburn, Chapel coached four All-SEC players and 15 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections. In 2024-25, Chapel and the Tigers were defensively sound – ranking 28th nationally in turnovers forced per game with 19.90, making it three-straight seasons with a top-30 national ranking in turnovers forced. Chapel coached two All-SEC honorees in DeYona Gaston and Yuting Deng, while also coaching two players who averaged over 20+ points per games. Gaston, who scored 22.3 points per game, ranked 11th nationally in the category, while also ranking 17th in field goals (257) and 34th in field goal percentage (.543).

In her third season at Auburn (2023-24), Chapel helped the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 after posting a 20-12 overall record and 8-8 record in the SEC. In that same season, Auburn made it to the SEC Tournament semifinals and had a Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American Honorable Mention and an All-SEC First Team selection in Honesty Scott-Grayson. The Tigers would double their win total from 2021 to 2022, then earned a WNIT bid in 2023 for their first postseason appearance in four years. In her first season, Chapel coached the Tigers to their first top-25 win since 1997 after downing the No. 4-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols by 10.

Prior to her stint at Auburn, Chapel served as the Coordinator of Player Development at the University of Texas in 2020-21, as the Longhorns advanced to the Elite Eight and put together a 21-10 record that season. She also served as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State for two seasons after playing four years with the Bulldogs.

As a player at Mississippi State (2013-17), Chapel aided the team to the WNIT quarterfinals her freshman year, then to the program's first NCAA Tournament since 2010 the following season. As a junior, the Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, then as a senior, she helped the team to its first ever Final Four. While there, Mississippi State upset UConn to advance to the finals in 2017. In her playing career, Chapel was a four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member who appeared in 142 games and helped the Bulldogs to 111 victories.

A native of Temple, Texas, Chapel earned a bachelor's degree in coaching and teaching in 2017 before earning a master's degree in teaching – community college education in 2020, both from Mississippi State.