Following Joe McKeown’s last season as a women’s basketball head coach at Northwestern, the program looks for candidates to replace McKeown during the offseason. 

According to USA Today's Mitchell Northam, Alabama women's basketball coach Kristy Curry is one of Northwestern's top targets.

HOWEVER, freelance reporter Will Miller said there was no overtone from the Wildcats' program about Curry, per his source.

Northam deleted his tweet about the previous report.

It's interesting to see such a reporting conflict. But you have to admit that Curry deserves to be a top target for Northwestern, which achieved success in both the Big Ten and the SEC conferences throughout her over-25-year HC career.  

Before she joined Alabama in 2013, the Crimson Tide hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. Under Curry's tenure, Curry has led them to three straight NCAA tournaments from 2023 to 2025. This season, she led the Crimson Tide 23-10, losing to No. 3 Texas 63-80 in the 2026 SEC Tournament's quarterfinals. Despite the loss, Alabama earned a No.6-seed and will enter this year’s NCAA Tournament, becoming the fourth straight time led by Curry and the 15th time in the program's history.

Coaching at Purdue from 1999 to 2006, she maintained a staggering .778 winning percentage and reached the NCAA Tournament every year, including a championship game in just her second season (2001), in which the team finished as a runner-up. Her familiarity with the conference’s recruiting landscape and the ability to rebuild the program could be major reasons for Northwestern's interest.