Todd Starkey was hired as the sixth head coach of the Kent State Women's Basketball team in April 2016.
Already the third-winningest coach in school history with 101 victories, Starkey has led the Golden Flashes to three Postseason WNIT appearances and two Mid-American Conference East Division titles.
Starkey has found much success in recruiting talented student-athletes, landing two of the highest-touted signing classes in school history back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. Both classes had two student-athletes earn spots on the MAC All-Freshman Team, while only one other school had multiple honorees over the two seasons. Nila Blackford led all conference freshmen in rebounding during the 2019-20 season. Led by Asiah Dingle and Lindsey Thall, the 2018 class ranked second nationally with 964 points. Overall, these two classes have combined for four All-MAC honors and a pair of MAC All-Defensive Team nods.
The 2021-22 season ended with a berth in the WNIT for the Golden Flashes and a final record of 19-12. The season was highlighted by wins over two Power 5 programs at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida and a win in the WNIT. First, the Flashes took down #19 UCLA, 75-69 at the showcase. Two days later, Penn State was the victim as the Flashes won 81-74. Later in the year, Youngstown State couldn't handle the Golden Flashes in the WNIT, as Kent came out on top, 68-59. That win was the second postseason WNIT win in program history. The Flashes boasted the second best defense by points per game allowed in the MAC and were second in the MAC for three-point percentage. The 21-22 season also saw Starkey become the third coach to reach 100 wins at Kent State.
The Flashes advanced to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals for the fifth year in a row in the unique 2020-21 season. Kent State’s three all-conference selections were tied for the most of any team in the league. In the MAC opener against Ohio, the Flashes set a new program record with 16 three-point field goals. Lindsey Thall was the conference’s top shot blocker for the third straight season and enters this season third in school history.
Kent State was playing its best ball of the year, having won seven of its last nine games, when a potential 2019-20 season-to-remember was unexpectedly cut short with the cancelation of the MAC Tournament. The East Division champions knocked off defending tournament champion Buffalo in a quarterfinal matchup and was the highest-remaining seed in the field. For the third time in the first four seasons under Starkey’s guidance, Kent State finished in the top-100 of the RPI. Five players averaged more than 11 points per game with guards Megan Carter and Katie Shumate earning All-MAC honorable mention selections.
The 2018-19 season saw Kent State post its first 20-win campaign in eight years while breaking a 25-year-old school record with 241 three-point field goals made. The Flashes finished with the highest RPI ranking (81) in program history and boasted four wins against RPI Top 100 teams, including a victory at Green Bay in the first round of the Postseason WNIT. Guards Megan Carter and Alexa Golden thrived in their third season under Starkey’s tutelage, earning All-MAC Third Team and Defensive Team honors, respectively. All-Freshman Team selections Asiah Dingle and Lindsey Thall highlighted the second highest-scoring freshman class (964 points) in the country.
Starkey was named 2017 MAC Coach of the Year for his efforts in guiding Kent State to one of biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I women’s basketball during his first season on the sidelines. The Golden Flashes finished the season with a 19-13 overall record and had the nation’s largest RPI improvement, jumping 222 spots from the previous season, and the fifth most-improved record in the country. Despite being picked to finish last in the preseason, Kent State put together a 13-5 conference mark to win the program’s first MAC East Division title since 2004-05. The regular season ended with a seven-game winning streak, which surpassed the number of conference games the team had won over the previous two seasons combined.
Behind the strength of five wins against RPI Top 100 teams, the Flashes received an at-large bid to the 2017 Postseason WNIT for the first time since the 2010-11 season. An angry Michigan squad that felt it deserved to play in the NCAA Tournament awaited Kent State in the opening round. Down by 21 points at halftime, the Flashes fought back to within five with just over two minutes to play before falling, 67-60. The Wolverines went on to claim the WNIT championship.
The 23-year coaching veteran came to Kent State after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Indiana, where he was responsible for assisting with the program’s recruiting, practice and game preparation, scouting reports, scheduling, player development and technology applications.
During his second season in Bloomington in 2015-16, he helped lead the Hoosiers to a historic year as the team made its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and grabbed its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 1983. Indiana finished the season with a 21-12 record, tying the school wins record, and was a perfect 14-0 at home. The Hoosiers finished fourth in the Big Ten, the school’s highest conference finish in 18 years, and defeated three ranked opponents.
Starkey’s time at IU began with a record-setting offensive performance, as the Hoosiers set single-game records for scoring (115) and 3-pointers made (16) in the season-opening win over Gardner-Webb on Nov. 15, 2014. The team would go on to post the program’s best scoring average (71.9 ppg) since 1995-96 and make the second-most three-pointers (236) in a season.
His first head coaching job came at NCAA Division II Lenior-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. Starkey concluded his nine-year tenure as the winningest coach in program history with a 165-95 record. Over his final six years, he led the Bears to four NCAA Tournament appearances and three Southern Atlantic Conference (SAC) regular season championships while averaging more than 20 wins per season. He received SAC Coach of the Year honors on four occasions, including a conference record three straight from 2009-11.
Starkey was named the 2009 Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year after leading Lenoir-Rhyne to one of the greatest seasons in program history. The Bears posted a 27-5 record and won both the conference regular season and tournament titles for the first time ever to earn the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament. Lenoir-Rhyne won the first NCAA Tournament game in program history, 69-58, over Anderson before falling in the second round.
Academics are important to the Youngstown-area native. Kent State was the only Division I women’s basketball program in the country during the 2016-17 season with two CoSIDA Academic All-America® selections, as Jordan Korinek and Larissa Lurken both earned second team honors. Korinek was then named to the first team in 2018. In his time at Lenoir-Rhyne, Starkey had 100-percent of the players who remained past their sophomore year graduate, while the team maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or higher every year.
Prior to his head coaching stint, Starkey served as an assistant coach for Lenoir-Rhyne’s men’s team for two seasons (2003-05). The team won the 2004 SAC regular season championship and made an NCAA postseason appearance.
Starkey got his coaching career started at his alma mater, Montreat College, in North Carolina. He was an assistant men’s basketball coach for five seasons (1998-03), helping the team to an NAIA National Tournament appearance in 2000.
Starkey grew up in nearby Canfield, Ohio, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in outdoor education from Montreat College. His playing career began in basketball and tennis at Mars Hill College.
