By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – University of Tennessee at Martin women’s basketball head coach Kevin McMillan has announced the hiring of Garner Small as an assistant coach.
“We are really excited to add Garner to our staff,” McMillan said. “He is a young and energetic coach who has a nice mix of experience in his career. He understands our program and our standard while his previous experience at UT Martin will help him hit the ground running from Day One not only on our campus but in our community.”
Small joins the Skyhawks after spending four seasons at Gardner-Webb – including the 2021-22 campaign as the program’s associate head coach. During his tenure with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, the squad posted a 61-54 overall record while going 46-27 during Big South play.
Primarily charged with the development of the team’s guards, he has overseen the development of three Big South all-conference honorees including Alasia Smith (first team), Carley Plentovich (second team) and Jhessyka Williams (second team and All-Freshman).
Prior to his tenure at Gardner-Webb he spent the 2017-18 season as the video coordinator at Ole Miss.
His previous coaching stops also include serving one season as an assistant coach at Claredon College in Texas after spending two seasons as a graduate assistant and video coordinator for the men’s basketball staff at UT Martin from 2014-16. During his time at UT Martin under head coach Heath Schroyer, the program won 41 games, clinched an Ohio Valley Conference West Division championship in 2015-16 and won four postseason games in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Before joining UT Martin, Small was an assistant coach at his alma mater Olivet College in 2013-14 after averaging 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game as a senior. He began his collegiate career at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, where he earned MCCAA third-team and academic all-conference honors. He also spent one year at Goshen College.
In high school, Small was a four-sport athlete at Schoolcraft High School in Schoolcraft, Michigan where he was coached in basketball by his father.
His wife, Bailey (maiden name Wright), is a Humboldt, Tenn. native and served as a manager for the women’s basketball program from 2012-15 as the Skyhawks won a pair of OVC regular season and tournament titles. The couple has two sons, Landon and Kash.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information