Women's basketball coach Hana Haden talks about new roster and play style on Mornings with Greg and Eli

Memphis women’s basketball coach Hana Haden joined Morning with Greg and Eli on 107.5 The Memphis Sports Hub on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming season and the new roster. Haden enters her first season as the Tigers’ head coach after spending the last two seasons at Georgia Southern.

Haden was hired after Memphis made the decision to part ways with head coach Alex Simmons after three straight years with 13 or fewer wins. Haden was named the 2026 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and led the Eagles to a 23-8 record, including 16-2 in conference play.

Haden brought back four players from Memphis’ 2025-26 roster and added seven players from the transfer portal and one from the high school ranks. She was asked about how the group is coming together with so many new faces, and Haden seems to like the way her team is gelling a few weeks out from the start of the season.

“It’s been enjoyable as a coaching staff to see that grow for the eight weeks in the summer and now in the preseason,” Haden said.

Haden said that the biggest emphasis when adding players is going out and adding the best player, and then it’s up to the coaching staff to adjust the game plan after putting the roster together. She said that if you only target players that you feel like fit your system, you limit yourself to who you can target.

“We try to get the best players, and then it’s our job [as the coaching staff] to adjust,” Haden said. “I think in this era it’s tough to say you’re going to have a system and only try to recruit to just that system. You can have some non-negotiables. We always are going to hang our hats on the defensive end and take pride on that end, but how we do it might look a lot different.”

Haden and her staff brought in an interesting group of players from the transfer portal, and they added several players from the area. The staff added Memphis native Tierney Kelsey, Jonesboro native Destiny Thomas and Tullahoma native Lily Melton.

Kelsey played high school ball at Whitehaven High School before spending time at Jackson State and Indiana State. With the Sycamores, she averaged 15.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists and scored 46 points against Murray State in her final game with the program.

“We have Tierney Kelsey coming home, a Memphis kid,” Haden said. “She was at Indiana State last year and averaged almost 16 points per game. She had a 47-point game in the conference tournament against Murray State. She can really really score it.”

Thomas started her career with the Tigers before following head coach Katrina Merriweather to Cincinnati. She averaged 4.9 points and five rebounds last season for the Bearcats. 

“Destiny Thomas is a familiar face, but she’s new back this year,” Haden said. “She played for coach Merriweather as a freshman and then was at Cincinnati the last three years. She had a grad year and wanted to come back to Memphis. She had a great experience here and felt like she had some unfinished business, and I really believe she will be one of the better post players in the conference. She’s just really good and really experienced.”

Haden was asked how the opportunity came about the bring Thomas back to the program, and she said the coaching staff reached out to Thomas to see if she had any interest in returning to Memphis. When she said she was interested in the idea, she became one of the top targets for the staff.

The head coach said she thinks good frontcourt play will lead to a lot of winning in the American conference, and she views Thomas as a big part in that frontcourt play.

Haden talked at length about how her team’s playing style will put a huge emphasis on the defensive end of the court, and her previous teams prove that. Georgia Southern ranked inside the top five in most defense statistics in the Sun Belt last year, and it’s clear she will bring that defensive pressure to the Tigers.

The head coach said the team will play two secret scrimmages before the season starts in November. Memphis will play its first five games at Elma Roane Fieldhouse, including a game against Alabama, and the Tigers will start the season on November 2 against LeMoyne-Owen.

You can listen to the full interview at this link or wherever you get podcasts:

The interview starts about seven minutes into the first hour.