Baylor hires two assistants: Toyelle Wilson leaves head coach job at PVAM, Sytia Messer arrives from Georgia Tech
From Baylor:
Baylor women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey announces the addition of two new assistant coaches to her staff, Toyelle Wilson and Sytia Messer.
“I am excited to welcome Toyelle and Sytia to our staff and thrilled to be able to hire two individuals with head coaching experience. They will be valuable and welcome additions to the Lady Bear program,” said Mulkey. “I have admired Toyelle’s leadership and coaching while she’s been at Prairie View A&M and I have always kept up with Sytia, I recruited her out or high school.”
Wilson comes to Baylor after leading the Prairie View A&M Panthers to three straight SWAC Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearances. Wilson compiled a 55-43 record In her three seasons as the program’s head coach. Prior to accepting the head coach position, Wilson was the Panthers’ top assistant for four years, she also spend three seasons as an assistant coach at Robert Morris University.
Wilson was recently one of 30 coaches across the nation that participated in the Center for Coaching Excellence (CCE) by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The CCE is an elite program for select basketball coaches and is designed to provide college women’s basketball coaches with the professional skills and personal ethics training necessary to be exceptional leaders.
A native of Camden, N.J., Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Manhattan College in 2003 and was a four-year letter winner for the women’s basketball team. She was a team captain and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors while leading the squad to an NCAA Tournament berth and a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship.
After three years as a head coach at Tennessee Tech and serving two stints at Georgia Tech, Messer begins her career at Baylor. She was associate head coach at Georgia Tech last season and served as an assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets from 2004-09. In between stints on the Atlanta campus, she compiled a 54-41 record as the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles’ head coach. Messer was named the 2010-11 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year after the Golden Eagles won the 2011 OVC regular season. Messer also has coached at Memphis and Arkansas State.
The Waldo, Ark., native was a standout player for the Arkansas Razorbacks where she finished her career ranked in the top 10 in points scored (7th, 1,370) and rebounds (10th, 603). Messer was named the 1998 NCAA Tournament West Regional MVP when the Razorbacks made their run to the Women’s Final Four and led Arkansas to the 1999 WNIT championship.
Wilson and Messer will begin on July 1 and replace Damion McKinney and Rekha Patterson.
