Emily Ragsdale will be in her fourth year on the Lady Panthers coaching staff and her second season as a full-time assistant in 2019-20.
Ragsdale was a graduate assistant coach at Drury from 2016-18 before moving up to a full-time role in 2018-19 and in her three seasons, the Lady Panthers have gone 96-8, 52-2 in the GLVC, won three conference titles, advanced to the NCAA-II tournament three times, won the Midwest Regional title and made a Final Four appearance in 2019. Drury won their way to the round of 16 or better in each of her three seasons on the DU bench.
Ragsdale joined Drury’s coaching staff after spending a year as an assistant coach at Aurora University in Illinois where she helped the NCAA-III program to a 17-11 record after the team had gone 8-18 the year before.
She played for Judson (Ill.) in the NAIA and recovered from an ACL tear in her sophomore season to average more than 6.5 rebounds per game during her career while pulling down 7.4 rebounds per game in her senior season. She was a four-year starter and three-year captain for the Eagles and exited the program having set team records for career offensive rebounds and career blocked shots.
Originally from Ottawa, Illinois, Ragsdale played for Ottawa Township High School and led that program to a 20-game winning streak during her junior year as well as back-to-back regional titles.
She has coached at the club level for the Illinois Lady Lightning and the Rising Stars and worked at the Doug Bruno Basketball Camp.
Ragsdale graduated from Judson University in 2015 with a degree in Exercise Sports Science with a concentration in Sports Administration and she completed her Master's degree in Education from Drury in 2018.
