Keyanna Warthen didn’t always envision herself coaching.
Indiana women’s basketball’s new team and recruitment coordinator and assistant coach knew she liked working with kids, and she loved basketball. But she didn’t begin picturing herself as a coach until she transferred from IU to SMU in 2021 — and even still, she didn’t immediately go that route. She took a marketing internship with the WNBA’s Dallas Wings after completing her sports management master’s degree at SMU.
It took Warthen stepping back from the action to fully realize where she belonged.
“To kind of not be around it but work behind the scenes, I was like, ‘Ahh, I kind of want to be around it, be on the court,'” Warthen told The Daily Hoosier in a Zoom interview. “So that kind of let me know that I wanted to be a coach and not do the background stuff.”
Warthen said the internship was a good experience, but she moved into coaching upon finishing. She joined Oklahoma State women’s basketball as a graduate assistant in 2022-23, and returned to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with the Cowboys for the NCAA Tournament that season. She described that as a surreal experience.
She left Oklahoma State after one season to become a full-time assistant at Miami (Ohio) under former IU assistant Glenn Box last year. Warthen credited Box for letting her be herself and immediately trusting her with a lot of responsibilities, which helped her grow as a coach.
Warthen didn’t expect to get a call from Indiana about coming back this early in her coaching journey. But Amber Smith’s departure created an opening on Teri Moren’s staff this offseason; Moren promoted Ali Patberg to the full-time assistant role, and then called Warthen about filling Patberg’s job.
“It’s such a joy to be able to bring Keyanna back home to Bloomington,” Moren said in IU’s press release announcing the hires. “She has had the opportunity to be a full-time assistant last year at Miami and will bring valuable experience for our student-athletes.”
Warthen played at IU from 2017 to 2021 in reserve roles. She played 11.1 minutes per game as a freshman but averaged fewer than eight minutes per game in each of the next three seasons in Bloomington. But she played bigger roles on those Indiana teams outside of games, bringing a leadership style that fit in with the program. As she became an outspoken upperclassman, Mackenzie Holmes regularly gave credit to players who came before her and helped build up Indiana’s program — and she made a point of mentioning Warthen with others like Tyra Buss, Amanda Cahill, and Patberg with more gaudy stats.
The Fort Lauderdale native could’ve returned to the Hoosiers in 2021-22 for her COVID year, but opted to transfer to SMU. Warthen said that decision was largely classroom-based — she didn’t love any of IU’s one-year master’s degree programs, and thought a new experience could be beneficial.
“I went down to SMU, got into sports management for a year. And I wanted something different. I just wanted to be around something different. And honestly, that probably was the best decision of my life, to go to SMU and meet new people and connect,” Warthen said. “There was no bad blood (with IU). I kept in contact with these people here.”
It didn’t fully sink in for Warthen that she was back at Indiana until the news became public on May 1. She was already in Bloomington for a few days before then, but seeing the announcement on social media made it feel real.
As that news spread, she texted Patberg, “Dude, we really back together and we’re on staff together.”
Patberg and Warthen are not only former teammates reunited: they’re best friends. Patberg helped Warthen through some freshman-year homesickness after they both arrived at IU in 2017 and took the Floridian under her wing. Patberg brought Warthen home to her family in Columbus, Ind. for a weekend that year, and Warthen felt welcomed and cared for. Their bond only grew stronger from there. They moved in together as sophomores and stayed with each other the next three years until Warthen transferred.
That strong dynamic has resurfaced since Warthen returned to IU. They’ve been practically inseparable in Cook Hall this month, often just goofing around and having fun with each other.
“It’s nice to work alongside your best friend. If anybody had an opportunity like that, I would tell them to do it. It’s been cool,” Warthen said. “She knows me, I know her, I know how she operates, she knows how I operate. So I think it’s going to be fun. I think we’re going to do really well together, we’re going to work really well alongside each other. So I’m excited to see what it brings us.”
The duo went out on a recruiting trip together earlier in May, something Warthen looked forward to. She normally won’t be allowed to recruit outside of IU’s campus, per NCAA rules, but that was an exception while Moren was away from the program working with Team USA.
Warthen feels recruiting is one of her bigger strengths in coaching. She draws people in with her laid back, personable approach, which naturally translates to recruiting. She said she talks to recruits like she’s already known them for a long time, which makes them comfortable.
She thinks her recruiting skill is something she can lean on as she looks down the road in her young coaching career.
“I just want to be one of the best recruiters. Just because I’ve been told that I’m super personable and people gravitate towards me. So I kind of use that gift to recruit some of the best players in the country,” Warthen said. “That’s my biggest goal, being the best recruiter and working my way up to associate head (coach). I don’t think I want to be a head coach. But associate head coach, and yeah, whatever comes with that.”
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