After the firing of Carolyn Kieger on March 5, the search for the Lady Lions’ fourth head coach in program history has begun.

Athletic Director Pat Kraft, who initiated the leadership change, is reportedly considering both in-house candidates currently on the coaching staff and national candidates.

We put together a list of the potential head coaching candidates who could be on his list to fill Penn State’s vacancy.

Shenise Johnson

Shenise Johnson currently serves as an assistant coach for Penn State and could be in line for a major in-house promotion. Johnson has experience across all levels of basketball, including collegiate, professional, international, and Olympic.

The University of Miami graduate is peppered all throughout the Hurricane record book, boasting a program-best 131 starts as well as Miami’s all-time steal record with 401. She sits third all-time in points with 2262. After a nine-year WNBA career, Johnson returned to her alma mater, serving as the Coordinator of Player Development in 2020. She was then hired as an assistant coach for the 2022 season. In her three seasons with Miami, she helped the program reach an Elite Eight in 2023 and helped develop four All-ACC Team members.

Additionally, Johnson coached the Rose Basketball Club to a championship victory during Unrivaled’s inaugural season.

Johnson is a true players-coach who would be instrumental in individual on-court development and heightened schematics.

Britney Anderson

A fellow Big Ten member, Britney Anderson, boasts strong postseason experience. As a player at Virginia Tech from 2003 to 2007, Anderson led the Hokies to four straight postseason appearances. She then began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Radford from 2013 to 2015. She returned to her alma mater in 2015, where she spent six seasons and logged another four postseason appearances with the Hokies.

Anderson then took a job with Stanford, an elite NCAA women’s basketball program, and her winningness continued. Stanford went 92-12 in her three seasons as an assistant coach, securing three consecutive PAC-12 titles, appearing in two Final Fours, and winning a national championship in 2021.

She arrived in Illinois in April 2023, primarily coaching the guards. In her first season, she helped Illinois win its first-ever postseason championship in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. In year two with the Illini, Anderson helped the team to a 22-win season, securing a postseason appearance and the program’s first tournament victory in 25 years. Additionally, she helped develop two top-10 WNBA draft picks, Haley Jones and Lexie Hull.

Everywhere Anderson goes, success follows. That kind of track record would be more than welcome here in Happy Valley.

Noelle Quinn

The former head coach of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm was shockingly let go last September despite making the postseason four out of her five seasons. Quinn played in the WNBA from 2007 to 2018, winning a championship with the Storm in her final year. The 41-year-old currently serves as the head coach of Breeze BC of Unrivaled, a professional 3v3 women’s basketball league. She doesn’t have any collegiate coaching experience, but Quinn is a UCLA graduate, where she earned three All-Pac-12 selections.

Could those (technically) Big Ten roots pull her to Penn State?

Daniel Barber

If Pat Kraft is prioritizing recruiting and roster building, Arizona State’s Daniel Barber could be the answer, as well as a familiar face. Barber currently serves as the recruiting coordinator and assistant coach at Arizona State, but carried that same role at Clemson and Penn State.

Barber began his collegiate coaching career with a year-long stint at UNC Asheville in 2013 before heading to Stetson to serve as recruiting coordinator and guard coach. Barber helped develop ASUN Player of the Year Brianti Saunders and ASUN Freshman of the Year McKenna Beach.

Then, Barber spent six years with Clemson, where he helped produce six All-ACC players, including two ACC-All Freshmen and two All-Defensive Team members. He signed multiple national Top-50 recruits, including Ruby Whitehorn, Clemson’s first McDonald’s All-American.

The Florida graduate also recruited Gabby Elliot to Penn State during his single season with the school, and then brought her to Arizona State in 2025, where she led the Sun Devils with 17.2 points per game on 45.8% shooting from three-point range. Additionally, Arizona State’s defensive rating jumped up to No. 2 in the nation upon Barber’s arrival.

Barber’s ability to identify, recruit, and develop players would be crucial in laying a strong foundation for the new era of the Lady Lions.