Frese, Meadows Named Women’s Basketball Assistant Coaches

THE FLATS – Marsha Frese and Chris Meadows, Sr. have joined the Georgia Tech women’s basketball program as assistant coaches, head coach Karen Blair announced on Tuesday.

A 20-year coaching veteran, Frese comes to The Flats after three seasons at Loyola University Chicago where she was instrumental in the program’s turnaround. In just her second season with Loyola, the Ramblers improved its win total by nine games, jumped seven spots in the conference standings and signed its first-ever Top 75 national recruit. Frese also served as the recruiting coordinator and academic liaison at Loyola, helping the program achieve a program best GPA of 3.59 in spring 2024.

“I am thrilled to welcome Marsha, her husband Jason, and their children Kylan and Camden to our Georgia Tech family,” said Blair. “Marsha and I have been peers in this business for over 20 years and she is one of the hardest workers I know. She is a phenomenal relationship builder and recruiter, but, more importantly, Marsha is an exceptional person. She does things the right way and always has her players’ best interests in mind.”

Prior to Loyola University Chicago, Frese spent the 2020-21 season at San Diego State University after serving as the head coach for five seasons at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. While leading the Roos, Frese signed or coached five of the top 10 all-time scorers or rebounders in program history and guided the program through its transition to the Western Athletic Conference. The Roos also excelled in the classroom, leading Division I in team GPA for two consecutive years and earning WBCA Top 25 Honor Roll honors four times.

Frese also held coaching stops at Illinois and Northern Illinois and got her coaching career started working alongside her sister, current Maryland head coach Brenda Frese, at Ball State, Minnesota and Maryland. Together, the two laid the foundation at Maryland for multiple NCAA Tournament runs and Maryland’s eventual 2006 National Championship.

Named the state of Iowa’s high school player of the year in 1990, Frese enjoyed a standout playing career at Rice University, where she still ranks third all-time in career field goal percentage (.402) and owns the number two mark on the single-season three-point field goal percentage record board (.472). Frese earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Rice.

Frese and her husband, Jason, are proud parents to two children, Kylan and Camden.

“I’m incredibly grateful and humbled to join Coach Blair’s staff and have the opportunity to learn from one of the most accomplished and respected leaders in our game,” Frese said. “Her track record speaks for itself – three Big Ten Championships, multiple NCAA Tournament runs and a national reputation as one of the top recruiters in the country.

“Coach Blair is a tireless worker and a proven winner who has developed countless athletes now living out their dreams in the pros,” continued Frese. “I’m excited to roll up my sleeves, get to work and contribute to the championship standard she’s bringing to Georgia Tech.”

A distinguished figure in women’s basketball that has coached at every level for over 30 years, Meadows has coached over 1,000 Division I student-athletes and 12 McDonald’s All-Americans, many of whom have gone on to play professionally in the NBA and WNBA. He was recognized as one of the 50 most impactful assistant coaches in the country by Silver Waves Media in back-to-back years. He also served as a WBCA on court presenter at the Final Four two-straight seasons, solidifying his reputation as a top-tier coach.

“I am so grateful to Chris, his wife, Glinda, and their children Chris, Jr. and Courtney for joining our team,” said Blair. “Chris is a veteran in this business as a coach, player development specialist and recruiter. Elite skill development is critical for the success of our program and we have great asset in Chris!”

No stranger to the Atlantic Coast Conference, Meadows comes to Tech after serving as assistant coach at Boston College for the past three seasons (2022-25).  In his first season at BC, Meadows helped lead the team to their first top-10 win since 2010, defeating No. 9/10 NC State on the road in 2023. While with the Eagles, Meadows helped mentor standout athletes Taina Mair and T’Yana Todd. His first season saw Mair earn a spot on the ACC all-freshman team after setting a single-season freshman BC record for assists (217), while leading the league in the same statistical category. A notable name in the ACC, Todd showed continued improvement under the tutelage of Meadows, ranking top 100 nationally in three-point field goal percentage and increasing her scoring average to 11.8 points per game.

“To have the opportunity to work with someone like Coach Blair is an honor and a privilege,” said Meadows. “It’s not only the success that she’s had, but the way in which she has done it, with humility and consistency at such a high level. I look forward to locking arms with her and our staff to continue to elevate this prestigious institution to a national championship level in the near future.”

Meadows has coached at every level of the game, including collegiate, high school and AAU circuits. He is also a well-regarded figure in travel basketball, having won multiple national showcases in both the boys’ and girls’ circuits. In addition, he was a program director for FBC Carolinas from 2018-21 and the director of ASGR Carolina Elite from 2017-19. In 2009, Meadows founded Momentum Skills Academy, where he worked until 2020 while he was the head varsity girl’s coach at Rocky River High School (2016-17) and was the head coach for Central Cabarrus High School from 2009-11.

In addition to his coaching achievements, Meadows recently co-authored the book I AM D-1: How to Conquer the World of Travel Basketball, which reflects his commitment to empowering, informing and encouraging players and families working towards earning a Division I scholarship.

Meadows is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, where he played for the Bonnies from 1990-92. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary and special education from the institution. He and his wife, Glinda, have two children, Chris, Jr. and Courtney. Chris, Jr. is a graduate of NCAT and Courtney was a women’s basketball lettterwinner and graduate of High Point University.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

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