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Michael Voepel
COLUMBIA, Mo. — It’s game day for the Missouri women’s college basketball team. In about eight hours, Kellie Harper, on the sideline in a winter-white suit and sparkling gold shoes, will coach the Tigers to a victory.
But this cloudy morning, she’s in gray riding pants and tall boots, sitting atop a horse named Roger. Someone else is coaching.
Crystal Kendrick instructs Harper as she rides on the soft dirt of the training ring. Harper admonishes herself for a mistake as she and Roger work on their timing for jumps.
«You know what happened there,» Kendrick tells her. «You wanted it so bad, you got in your own way.»
Harper smiles, knowing how familiar that sounds.
«I’ve been riding since I was 5 years old, but I never had lessons,» she says. «It was all self-taught, and now I’m learning about everything I do wrong. You’ve gotta be patient. You’ve gotta learn to trust yourself. Not overthink things.
«How many times do we coaches tell our kids that? Now, I have to apply it to myself. Getting coached is making me a better coach.»
Tennessee — where Harper won three straight NCAA championships as a player for the legendary Pat Summitt — she spent a year away from coaching.
«I poured everything in,» Harper, 48, told ESPN. «I couldn’t love a school more than that school. There was shock, but then also just this feeling of, ‘I don’t know what’s next.'»
For what felt like the first time in Harper’s life, things slowed down. She spent more time with her son, Jackson, 12, and daughter, Kiley, 7. She worked as an analyst for the SEC Network. And she deeply reconnected with a lifelong love of horses.
«Throughout last year, I talked to a lot of coaching friends who were miserable,» Harper said. «Dealing with NIL and the transfer portal, the losses, everything. And it hit me so hard. I was like, ‘I tell you what, if I coach again, I’m not going to be miserable. I’m going to find more joy.'»
Grace Slaughter, the Tigers’ leading scorer (19.3 PPG) and rebounder (7.4 RPG), said when she heard Harper was Missouri’s coaching choice, she was excited because of what stood out to her when the Tigers had played Tennessee under Harper.
«Her demeanor, the way she carries herself, the energy she coaches with,» Slaughter told ESPN. «And that’s what we’ve seen from her here, too. You want to do well for her. You want to make her proud.»
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Harper had no shortage of coaching offers, but liked the advantage of having lived and recruited in the Show-Me State — where both her children were born — for six years while at Missouri State. It was a chance to be in the SEC again, and Harper felt sure she would be able to hire a high-quality staff. Plus, things just clicked when she talked to Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch.
«Other jobs I’ve taken had this long-standing icon,» Harper said of Yow and Summitt, who died in 2009 and 2016, respectively. «And in particular at Tennessee, because we sound alike, Pat and I. We have that accent. So many times, people would come up and tell me how much I reminded them of her.
«Whether I really did or not wasn’t the point. They just wanted Pat back. And I did, too. I still want Pat back. But the expectation that I was her? That was there every single night. And I dealt with it. It was not anything that I didn’t expect or wasn’t willing to handle. But you’re always going to be compared.»
There is a different hill to climb at Mizzou: rebuilding confidence and competitiveness.
«I think that’s what I’m good at: Taking things and moving them in the right direction,» Harper said. «I like the puzzle, trying to figure out what we need to do. We have to overachieve. Get kids that find a way to fight and win and have a little chip on their shoulder. I feel like we’re going to be able to build this with that mentality.»
It will take patience and hard work. But the time when she’s at the Mid-Mo barn will also help. Harper has washed and brushed Roger after their lesson, put away his tack and given carrots to one of her own horses, Saint, who is boarded there. Soon she will head home in her pickup truck and then to Mizzou Arena for shootaround. The morning, surrounded by the sweet smells of hay and horses, Teddy the friendly dog and Sparky the mildly mischievous goat, has invigorated her.
«I really do think Pat would love that I was doing this,» Harper said. «I remember her telling me when I was a really young coach, ‘Kellie, I’m heading to the beach for two weeks. You better find something that gets you away from this.’
«At that point, I didn’t think I needed it. Yet here was one of the most respected coaches in the history of coaching telling me this. She was so wise to know it was important.»
