Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
- Email:
- tcoppage@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-7077
Tiffany Coppage completed her third season on the women’s basketball coaching staff at the end of 2020-21, serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. She joined the Crimson Tide after spending two seasons in the same position at Northwestern.
In her third season at the Capstone, Coppage assisted a UA program that reached new heights in 2020-21. The Crimson Tide earned its first bid to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament since 1999, as sixth-seeded Alabama rolled past 10th-seeded North Carolina, 80-71, to advance to the second round. UA averaged 74.6 points per game on the season, the fourth most in the Southeastern Conference and the program’s best average since 1998-99. Working primarily with the wing players, Coppage helped develop Jasmine Walker into a 2021 All-SEC First Team selection and the seventh overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft (Los Angeles Sparks). Marking the program’s first draft pick since 2005, Walker ended the season as the only player ranked in the top six in the conference in both scoring (19.1 ppg) and rebounding (9.4 rpg).
In 2019-20, Coppage helped the Tide to its most regular season wins since 1997-98, while assisting in the Tide’s best offensive production (71.7 points per game) in 18 years. Coppage who is the position coach for the wing players, helped forward Jasmine Walker to her 11.9 points, 7.1 rebounds per game, while making a team-best 64 three-pointers which garnered her SEC All-Second Team honors.
In her first season with the Tide, Coppage primarily worked with the post players who saw significant improvements in 2018-19. Sophomores Jasmine Walker and Ariyah Copeland both had breakout seasons under the direction of Coppage with Walker improving her point and rebounding totals from 5.7 and 4.2 per game in 2017-18 to 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest last season, while Copeland over doubled her totals from 3.0 ppg and 2.6 rpg to 8.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg in 2018-19.
In her first season in Evanston, Coppage helped guide the Wildcats to a 20-win season, which included a victory over then-No. 16 Florida and an upset win against Iowa in the opening round of the 2017 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament. Northwestern also advanced in its 2018 conference tournament, knocking off Wisconsin in the first round.
Individually, four Wildcats – Nia Coffey, Ashley Deary, Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah and Lindsey Pulliam – earned all-conference honors under Coppage’s guidance. Coffey was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team and Deary won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award along with earning a spot on the All-Big Ten Second Team in 2017. Kunaiyi-Akpanah secured herself a position on the second team and Pulliam was named honorable mention and all-freshman in 2018. Coffey, who was the only player in the nation to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, was also an honorable mention All-American and went on to become the fifth overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft.
In her role as recruiting coordinator, Coppage led the charge behind Northwestern signing the No. 18 recruiting class in the nation and the top-rated class in the Big Ten in 2017.
Prior to her tenure with the Wildcats, Coppage spent three seasons at Northern Iowa as an assistant coach. During the 2015-16 season, Coppage helped the Panthers win 24 games, second-most in program history, and a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title. UNI also advanced to the third round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament that season.
Other stops for Coppage include Western Illinois (assistant coach/recruiting coordinator, 2011-13), Wichita State (graduate assistant, 2010-11) and the Missouri Valley Blazers AAU program (assistant coach, 2010).
A native of Kansas City, Mo., Coppage spent two years at Fort Scott Community College as a student-athlete before finishing her playing career at Missouri State. She started both seasons and was a two-year team captain for the Lady Bears.
Coppage earned her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism with a minor in general business from Missouri State in 2009. She then went on to earn her master’s degree in sports management from Wichita State in 2011.
