thelesterlee
On Sunday, Utah State was eliminated from the first round of the Mountain West tournament following a 49-85 beatdown by Boise State. Utah State had the lead for exactly zero (0) seconds of this game.
After the game, Utah State’s head coach, Kayla Ard was asked how she planned on rebuilding for the next season to which she informed everyone she was fired immediately after the Boise State loss, so she will not, in fact, be rebuilding the Utah State women’s basketball program.
Utah State head coach Kayla Ard says she was fired immediately after losing to Boise State—and announced it herself at the postgame press conference.
“I just coached my last game at Utah State… I’m assuming that’s going to be the last question.”pic.twitter.com/ur9iopju1N
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) March 11, 2024
Why was Kayla Ard fired?
Utah State won 8 games in 2019-2020 before hiring Kayla Ard—who had spent the last 3 years as an assistant coach at Denver. Ard came in year one and won 4 games. That’s 4 fewer games than before she arrived.
But these college coaches need a couple years before they can truly be evaluated. They need to get in their own recruiting classes and install their systems.
The next season, Ard’s Aggies jumped from 4 wins to 11. They went from finishing 10th in the Mountain West to 9th. Wow. Tell Salt Lake we back.
But in the last two seasons, Utah State won a combined 9 games. The team sucks. I imagine the athletic department could not wait to rush into the locker room and send Ard a link to indeed.com before she gave another terrible speech and her stench lingered on the girls.
What’s next for Kayla Ard?
Upon my research, it appears Kayla Ard may never be a head coach again.
I wouldn’t necessarily say she played college basketball. She started at Chipola College and transferred to Southeastern Louisiana University where she appeared in only 3 games in the 04-05 season. She averaged 3 points in those 3 games.
Women’s college basketball is LOADED with talent right now. That wasn’t the case in 04. And Ard couldn’t even get on the court. I know not every coach needs to have averaged 20 points in college in order to be qualified to coach but homegirl SUCKED.
It’s also worth mentioning she went to college in 04 and didn’t graduate until 2010. Everyone has their own path. I’m a proud college dropout. But Kayla Ard has a master’s degree at Phoenix University.
Personally, I’m not hiring the woman who stinks at basketball and has a degree from Phoenix University to run my basketball program. She’s going to be a tremendous assistant though. For the rest of her life.
Will Utah State bounce back? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. Let me know if you think Kayla Ard is a good head coach so I can laugh at you.
