Shelly Ethridge
Coach Women's Basketball
36-21 (.631)
2Years
E-mail: methridge1@stlcc.edu

Coach Ethridge (Coach E) led her second year team to the NJCAA championships after winning the Region XVI Title. The team set a school record with 25 victories. She was named Coach of the Year in Region XVI, District Coach of the Year and Co-Coach of the Year in the MCCAC conference. Ethridge has thirteen years of head coaching experience at the collegiate level. She has compiled a sparkling collegiate record of 226-130. She had eight consecutive winning seasons, including four years in Division II and five years at the junior college level. Ethridge turned around three struggling basketball programs, building winning traditions and graduating a high percentage of student-athletes. At Mermec, she boasts a record of 36-21(.631).

Coach Ethridge was hired at Belleville Area College (Southwestern Illinois College) in 1991 where she inherited a program with only 14 wins in the previous six seasons. Ethridge created a winning program (.705 winning percentage) ranked nationally in both academics and athletics over five years. Coach E was twice named Great Rivers Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (1992/93, 1995/96).

In 1997, Coach Ethridge became the 7th head coach in UMSL school history, taking over a team with only five winning seasons in the previous 23 years, and none since 1993. She led the team to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament (2000). Ethridge was able to compile seven consecutive winning seasons in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Ethridge is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University where she was a four year starter and played in the1990 NCAA tournament. In 1997 Ethridge was a featured speaker "Rebuilding a Program" at the NCAA DI tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was on a panel with Pat Head-Summit (Tennessee), and Vivian Stringer (Rutgers). In 1991 Ethridge was a member of the Olympic Festival Basketball team. Coach Ethridge is a graduate of Mater Dei High School in Breese, Ill, where she was an all-state selection. In 1995, Ethridge was inducted into the Mater Dei Hall of Fame. She received her Master of Education in 2000, from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.