PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Kiera Wooden has spent a good portion of her life representing West Chester women's basketball, first as a star player, then as an assistant coach. Since 2014, she has been the head coach of the Golden Rams.
As a player, Wooden was a legend at West Chester, a three-time team MVP and a three-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division first-team performer. But going from the high school game to college was an adjustment for her early on, she said.
Obviously, she figured it out.
"I think that's one of the things a lot of freshmen struggle with is when you are so successful in high school and then you come to college and then you’re not seeing that same immediate success, you have two options – you can step up or you can fold. I stepped up. And I feel like so many times, student-athletes can do that, if they have the right mentality," she said.
Wooden has won 62% of her games as the head coach at West Chester, leading the Golden Rams to the NCAA Tournament three times. She talks about her favorite part of what she does.
"The relationships. For sure. That's one of the main things that I loved about West Chester and one of the main things that (former WCU head coach Deirdre Kane) instilled in me is that it's not just a business, it's not just about wins and losses," she shared.
"Don’t get me wrong, we're going to work hard and we're going to win, but the relationships that you build along the way, watching players that you used to coach become mothers and become wives and that sort of thing, them calling you for advice and those things, those things are the things that stick with you."
You can listen to the entire interview with Kiera Wooden above by checking out the latest episode of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." Subscribe on the RADIO.COM app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow Matt Leon on Twitter @MattLeon1060.