Carley Kuhns Year-By-Year Results
Carley Kuhns enters her third season with Valdosta State on the heels of an incredible first two years, in which she was named the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year in 2016-17 and made a Sweet-16 appearance in 2017-18.
Kuhns, who notched her second 20-plus win season in 2017-18, lead the Lady Blazers to an impressive 23-9 record in regular season, and 15-5 in conference play. VSU made an impressive run but fell short in the Sweet-16 to Union to end their successful campaign.
Under Kuhns' leadership, the 2016-17 season produced VSU's first 20-plus win since 2011 and the first NCAA South Regional Tournament appearance since 2010. With 26 wins against just six losses, Kuhns and the Lady Blazers claimed the program's first Gulf South Conference Championship since 1984.
Individual awards bestowed on Kuhns' players included All-GSC and All-Region honors for both Madi Mitchell and Kenya-Samone' Dixon. Furthermore, Mitchell earned All-American recognition by the WBCA to become VSU's first All-American since Brittany Ferguson in 2012.
Coach Kuhns has complied an overall record of 45-19, and 28-8 in the Gulf South during her first two seasons for VSU. After their successful Sweet-16 run in 2017-18, the Lady Blazers saw national honors as they were ranked 23rd in all of Division II in the 2018-19 Preseason SID Poll. Regionally, the team was picked to finish third under the reigns of Kuhns.
Kuhns, a 2015 Blazer Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, took over at VSU following a six year stint as an assistant coach at Belmont, where she helped lead the Bruins to an Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 2015-16 and the program's second NCAA Tournament appearance in the history of Bruin Basketball. During Kuhns' tenure at Belmont, she participated heavily in the program's recruiting process, and five of her recruits earned All-OVC recognition. In addition, Kuhns served as an academics and compliance liaison while also adding contributions with scouting, team workouts, camps, and the training of perimeter players. Her efforts helped lead the Bruins to a 24-9 record in 2015-16.
Kuhns went to the Bruins after completing a two-year graduate assistantship at Valdosta State. While with the Lady Blazers, she assisted with various components of the program. Within one month of joining the Bruin staff in 2010, Kuhns was named to the prestigious Gulf South Conference All-Decade Second Team for her stellar career on the hardwood at Valdosta State.
A former student-athlete at Valdosta State, Kuhns constructed her Hall of Fame career and received numerous honors from 2004 through 2008, including becoming the first Lady Blazer since 2001 to be named a Kodak/State Farm WBCA Honorable Mention All-American. She also recorded 1,133 career points, the 16th-most in program history and was a two-time First Team All-Gulf South Conference selection. Her 262 three-pointers earned the sharpshooter ownership of the school record in the category and placed her 5th all-time in Gulf South Conference history.
The illustrious playing career of Kuhns also helped VSU earn a trip to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen during her senior campaign with a 26-6 overall record. She led the team in scoring, averaging 10.4 points per game, and shot .373 percent from behind the three-point arc that season. In her career, Kuhns also tallied 436 rebounds, 247 assists, 35 blocked shots, and 245 steals.
The approach with Kuhns at the helm is expected to bring an energetic, fast paced style of basketball with an effort to score quickly off the break on offense and put heavy pressure on the ball on defense.
Kuhns earned her Bachelor's in Physical Education from Valdosta State in 2008 and completed her Master's in Higher Education Leadership in 2010. She and her husband Matt, who also played basketball for Valdosta State, have three daughters, Carsten (4), Kyler (2), and Cohen (6 months)
