Dee Stokes: Official Website

THE STOKES FILE

Coach Dee Stokes, a native of Fayetteville, AR, was a three time All-Conference selection as well as a two time All-State selection at Fayetteville High School. Coach Stokes went on to play collegiate basketball at Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she graduated with a BA in Sociology in 1993. Coach Stokes knew right away that her passion for the game of basketball would lead her into coaching, so upon graduation she immediately entered the coaching field.

Her first stop was as a Graduate Assistant coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. UAB, that year, had unprecedented success on the court as they captured the Great Midwest regular season and tournament championships on their way to participating in the school’s first ever NCAA tournament. Stokes then moved on to Murray State as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator under Eddie Fields.

While not having the type of success that was hoped for, Stokes enjoyed her time in Murray and has fond memories of the Racer fans and university community at large. The next stop along Coach Stokes’ journey came when Candi Harvey called about an assistant coaching position at Texas A&M University.

Stokes made the trek to College Station, TX and spent two wonderful years as the Lady Aggies won the last ever Southwest Conference Classic en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance in her first season. In 1997, Stokes decided to follow, then, one of the top 10 coaches in women’s basketball, Paul Sanderford, to the University of Nebraska.

The Huskers that year won every home game, played in the finals of the Pre-Season NIT, shattered the attendance record, and made an NCAA Tournament appearance. One of coach’s dreams was to become a head coach, and on June 28, 1998, that dream became reality.

One of the youngest head coaches at the time, Stokes inherited an East Carolina team that had only won 9 games in the previous season. In her first season ECU won 16 games and had the first winning season in 6 years. Later that season, the Lady Pirates played in the championship game of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, which found a gritty ECU team falling to the 5th ranked Old Dominion Lady Monarchs.

The next two years were also successful as the Lady Pirates had two more winning seasons marking the first time that feat was accomplished in 14 years (back to back to back winning seasons). Stokes spent a small stint as a semi- pro coach and assistant GM in the NWBL, but her passion for young people and college athletics brought her back to campus as an assistant coach at Winthrop University in 2004.

She joined her friend and colleague Bud Childers, to turn around a Winthrop program that had never had a winning season since becoming Division I. Their hard work and dedication paid off in the second season as the Lady Eagles had a 12 game overall improvement, and won the most games in school history.

On April 12, 2006 Coach Stokes got the call to be the Head Coach at Winston Salem State University. It is now her charge to take the program through its transition into Division I.