Loyola Marymount has hired Tairia Flowers as their new head coach.
Flowers spent the last decade as the head coach at Cal State Northridge (CSUN), and earned more than 250 victories during her tenure leading the Matadors. She led the program to a Big West conference championship and NCAA tournament berth in 2015.
Named the Big West Coach of the Year also in 2015, Flowers’ program produced the conference Player of the Year in 2015, ’17, and ’18, as well as a pair of players who earned the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
An assistant coach on the US National Team staff, and set to help guide that squad in the Tokyo Olympics, Flowers previously was in charge of the Junior National Team from 2013-16. Within the collegiate ranks, prior to taking the helm at CSUN, Flowers spent time on staff at Long Beach State and UC Riverside. During her playing days, Flowers helped guide UCLA to four Women’s College World Series appearances from 2000-03, with a pair of All-American honors to her credit. She was inducted into the Bruins’ Hall of Fame in 2019.
During her playing career, Flowers earned a pair of Olympic medals. She was part of the gold-medal-winning United States squad in 2004, and earned a silver medal at the Beijing Games in 2008. She also owns a pair of World Championship gold medals and two golds from the Pan American Games.
In taking over the Loyola Marymount program, Flowers follows Sami Strinz-Ward, who was recently named the head coach at Texas Tech. The Lions finished the 2020 season with a 13-10 overall record, including wins over LSU and Michigan. During the most recent full season, the Lions finished the 2019 campaign with a 40-21 overall record and an 11-4 mark in conference play.
