Kenzie Kostas
Assistant Coach | 4th Season
Kenzie Kostas begins her fourth year as an Assistant Women's Basketball Coach in 2020-21 and her fifth with the program after serving a year as the Jennies Graduate Assistant Coach.
Since becoming a full-time coach, Kostas as led the Jennies to an 82-14 record with two MIAA regular season, an MIAA Tournament, NCAA Regional and National Championship. The Jennies have qualified for the NCAA postseason in each of her three years as an assistant coach and were set to host the NCAA Regional as the No. 1 seed before the NCAA postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Five Jennies have been named All-Americans and 12 have been All-MIAA with two MIAA Players of the Year and two MIAA Defensive Players of the Year.
Kostas gained national recognition in 2020 being honored as one of the WBCA Thirty Under 30, recognizing the top 30 coaches under 30 years old across the country from the collegiate ranks.
Kostas works closely with the Jennies guards, including All-Americans Paige Redmond, Morgan Fleming and Megan Skaggs. In addition to her work with the team on the court, Kostas serves as the team's operations coordinator, handling team travel arrangements, equipment orders and as camp director. She has also taken on a bigger role in the scouting of opposing teams and recruiting. Kostas famously was the lead scout for the Ashland Eagles in the National Championship game, helping to implement an offensive and defensive game plan as the Jennies defeated the previously unbeaten Eagles 66-52 to win the second National Championship in team history.
Off the court, Kostas has taken the lead in Jennies community service projects. She's organzied Central Missouri's Kid's Day games each of the last two seasons and has grown UCM's community presence by working with local elementary schools. The Jennies have been involved with the Warrensburg Elementary Adventure Club, Warrensburg School District Community Clothes and Project Community Connect. The Jennies have also supported UCM's literacy team which reads and donates books to Warrensburg Elementary Schools.
Kostas graduated from Missouri State in 2016 where she played four years for the Lady Bears, making over 100 career starts. She was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection and named First Team All-MVC in 2015 and 2016. Kostas finished her career with 1,645 points, seventh all-time at MSU. She is also ninth in steals (212), sixth in three-pointers made (184), fifth in three-point attempts (517) and tenth in both free throws made (345) and free throw attempts (444). In four years, Kostas also grabbed 566 rebounds, dished out 320 assists and blocked 52 shots. At her time of graduation, she was one of only three players in MSU history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 steals, 200 assists and 50 blocks in a career.
As a senior, Kostas was ninth in the MVC scoring 14 points per game and handing out 2.8 assists per game. Her .391 three-point percentage was third in the conference and .783 free throw percentage was sixth. She was also sixth in steals with 1.7 swipes per game. Kostas had a streak of 34 straight free throws made in 2015-16, second-longest in MSU history and seventh in Missouri Valley Conference history.
In the classroom, Kostas was just the third Lady Bear to earn First Team MVC Scholar-Athlete honors. She was the 2015 MVC Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the MVC Elite 18 Award winner and the MSU co-Outstanding Female Athlete. She made the Missouri Valley Conference Honor Roll all four years and three time's received the Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award.
Kostas attended Mt. Vernon High School in Mt. Vernon, Mo. where she was a two-time All-State selection and took home a Missouri Class 3 state championship as a junior.
She graduated from Missouri State with a degree in Elementary Education and earned her Master's Degree in Educational Technology from UCM.
Kostas and her husband Alex were married in June 2018 and currently reside in Warrensburg with their cat Louie.
