Women’s Basketball Legend Nikki McCray-Penson Has Died

Nicki McCray-Penson, a two-time Olympic goal medalist and women’s college basketball coach, has died. She was 51.

McCray-Penson returned to the sideline as an assistant coach on Coquese Washington’s staff at Rutgers last season. The university confirmed her death on Friday, but did not announce a cause of death.

McCray-Penson’s tenure at Rutgers was only a small portion of her 16 years of college coaching experience. She began coaching in 2006 as an assistant at Western Kentucky. After three seasons at WKU, she became an assistant at South Carolina, joining the staff of her Olympic teammate and friend Dawn Staley.

During her Gamecocks’ tenure, McCray-Penson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and went into remission later that year. However, she remained on staff and helped South Carolina claim its first national title in ’17. 

After multiple seasons at South Carolina, she left Columbia to take her first head coaching job at Old Dominion ahead of the 2017–18 season. After going 8–23 in her first season, she led the Monarchs to back-to-back winning campaigns in the final two years of her ODU stint.

However, the Monarchs were unable to compete for a chance to play in the women’s NCAA tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic. McCray-Penson then spent the COVID-19-affected season at Mississippi State before stepping down from the program ahead of her second year, citing that she needed to focus on her health.

In addition to her years of coaching experience, McCray-Penson spent nine seasons in the WNBA. The three-time All-Star played for the Mystics, Fever, Mercury, Stars and Sky. She also helped Team USA win two gold medals during the 1996 and 2000 Olympics Games and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. 

Prior to her time in the WNBA, McCray-Penson also won an ABL championship with the Columbus Quest in 1997 and played for Tennessee from ‘91 to ‘95. With the Volunteers, she was a two-time SEC Player of the Year under the late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.