Krista Gerlich Named Big 12 Coach of the Year After Historic Lady Raiders Season
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The resurgence of the Texas Tech Lady Raiders reached a defining moment Tuesday when the Big 12 Conference announced its annual postseason honors. In a move that validates a five-year rebuilding effort, head coach Krista Gerlich was named Big 12 Coach of the Year. The award, voted on by the league’s head coaches, confirms what Lady Raider fans have watched unfold all season.
The 2025-26 Season for Texas Tech's Coach That Changed Everything
The honors did not stop there. The Lady Raiders also claimed Sixth Player of the Year recognition and placed three players on the All-Big 12 teams.
THAT’S OUR HEAD COACH 👏 pic.twitter.com/NgKpB0yJ9g
— Lady Raider Basketball (@LadyRaiderWBB) March 3, 2026
Gerlich becomes only the second coach in program history to earn the award, joining the legendary Marsha Sharp, who won it in 1998 and 1999. After being picked 13th in the preseason poll and finishing tied for fourth in the conference standings, Gerlich secured her first career Coach of the Year honor. It marks the program’s highest conference finish since the 2012-13 season.
The 2025-26 campaign has been nothing short of historic for the Scarlet and Black. Texas Tech closed the regular season with a 25-6 overall record and a 12-6 mark in Big 12 play. Those numbers represent the most overall wins since 2003-04 and the most conference victories since 2004-05.
The Lady Raiders raced out to a 19-0 start, the best opening in program history. That streak tied the longest single-season win stretch ever achieved by the program. That also matched the 19 consecutive wins from Jan. 27, 1992, to April 4, 1993, the same season Tech captured the national championship.
The fast start pushed Texas Tech back into the national rankings for the first time since January 2012. The Lady Raiders spent 10 straight weeks inside the AP Top 25, reintroducing themselves to the national stage.
Gerlich’s work also earned national attention beyond the conference. She was the only Big 12 coach named to the 2026 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Watch List, adding another layer of prestige to an already milestone-filled season.
Texas Tech secured three top-15 wins this season. Under Gerlich, the Lady Raiders now own nine ranked wins, five of which have come against top-15 opponents, including three this year alone. Perhaps no achievement resonated louder than the regular-season sweep of the Baylor Bears. It marked the first time since 2003-04 that Tech accomplished that feat.
The breakthrough began Dec. 21, 2025, when the Lady Raiders snapped Baylor’s 31-game winning streak in the series dating back to 2011. It was also Tech’s first win in Waco since Feb. 8, 2004. The dominance continued in Lubbock on Feb. 18 with an 87-56 victory. The 31-point margin stood as the program’s largest win over a ranked opponent since at least 2000 and the second-largest margin of victory over Baylor in the past 30 years.
The Five-Year Rebuild That Paid Off
In 2020-21, she guided Tech to its first win over the Texas Longhorns since 2013. She also mentored Vivian Gray into becoming the program’s 27th All-American after Gray averaged 19.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
The 2021-22 season brought three AP Top-25 wins against Texas, Kansas State Wildcats, and Oklahoma Sooners. It also featured the first road sweep of Texas and Oklahoma in the same season in program history.
In 2022-23, the Lady Raiders nearly doubled their win total from 11 to 20 and advanced to the third round of the WNIT. They secured their first postseason victory since 2011-12 with a win over UTEP Miners and finished top-15 nationally in free throws made per game at 15.5.
The 2023-24 campaign delivered back-to-back winning seasons, an 11-0 start, and advancement in the Big 12 Tournament for the first time since 2018-19. Then came 2024-25, when Tech recorded 19 wins and reached the quarterfinals of both the Big 12 Tournament and the WBIT.
The program earned its 1,000th all-time win by defeating the Utah Utes in the conference tournament, snapping a 22-year drought without two conference tournament victories. Wins over the Wyoming Cowgirls and Virginia Tech Hokies pushed the Lady Raiders to the WBIT quarterfinals. Bailey Maupin and Jasmine Shavers each surpassed 500 points that season and earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention recognition.
Now, as Texas Tech enters the Big 12 Tournament as the 5-seed and eyes its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013, the Coach of the Year honor feels like both validation and a launching point.
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Shayni Maitra is a sports girl through and through writing about everything from locker room drama to game-day legends in the NFL and NBA. She’s covered the action for outlets like College Sports Network, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, NB Media, and PinkVilla, blending sharp takes with a deep love for storytelling. Whether it’s college football rivalries, Olympic gold-chasers, or the off-field chaos that keeps Twitter alive, Shayni brings the heat with heart—and just the right amount of humor.