Basketball: Former Tech star continues to give back to West Texas

Krista Gerlich grew up and now coaches several hours from Odessa, but she still considers it part of her back yard.

She also has a passion for her profession, which made it natural to accept an invitation from Odessa High boys coach James Johnson to speak at the inaugural West Texas Basketball Clinic on Saturday at Odessa College.

Gerlich is the head coach at NCAA Division II women's power West Texas A&M in Canyon, and she played on Texas Tech's national championship team in 1993.

"I think this is part of professional development, even as coaches that are doing this, to hear other people speak and spread whatever you know," she said. "It's important to be able to share with other coaches and to learn from them and to just network and meet people, especially when you're in the college game. I grew up in the West Texas area, so I just think West Texas basketball is really awesome, and I want everyone to be really successful."

Gerlich, then as Krista Kirkland, was a standout high school player at both Sudan and Spearman before moving on to Texas Tech during the program's history-making era in the early 1990s.

She was an important cog along with Sheryl Swoopes on the 1993 team that beat Ohio State for the NCAA title that season. Gerlich's role was obvious when she had her number retired by the school just months after winning the title.

Gerlich became a head coach at the collegiate level for the first time in September 2006 when she accepted the West Texas A&M position.

But she had been a head coach before in high school, including Class 2A Lockney and then Class 5A stops at San Antonio Taft and San Antonio Reagan.

Before taking over the Lady Buffs in 2006, Gerlich was an assistant at Tech in the last three years of legend Marsha Sharp's tenure.

"I think that coaching is coaching," said Gerlich, whose audience as one of six speakers for the clinic included junior high, high school and college coaches. "The Xs and Os are Xs and Os. I think that maybe you can make things a little more difficult if you want to, but I think it's all the same.

"Winning's winning and losing's losing, and you want to win championships at whatever level you're at. I've enjoyed every level I've been at and I really enjoy the college level, but I think the main thing is the relationships you build with your players."

Gerlich went from coaching under a legend at Tech to replacing one at West Texas A&M. Bob Schneider retired after 25 years and winning 585 games with the Lady Buffs in 2006, but Gerlich stepped right in and has gone 54-10 in her two seasons.

West Texas A&M has won the Lone Star Conference South Division in both of her seasons, and the Lady Buffs will return all but one starter from last season's team, which was ranked as high as No. 4 nationally.

West Texas A&M also will get a player back who missed the entire 2007-08 campaign with a torn ACL - Odessa High graduate Mariah Willis, who has two years of eligibility remaining.

"She's done a real nice job," Gerlich said of the 6-foot center. "I think (the injury has) given her a different perspective, being able to sit out and see from a coach's point of view what we're trying to do. I think she's really excited. It's given her some internal motivation, and I think she's ready to go."