Karen Middleton (basketball)

Karen Middleton

Middleton with Duke in 2025
Current position
Title	Assistant Coach
Team	Duke
Conference	ACC
Biographical details
Born	Monroe, North Carolina
Playing career
1987–1991	South Carolina
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1991–1994	South Carolina (asst.)
1994–1997	Eastern Washington (asst.)
1997–2007	Stanford (asst.)
2007–2009	Illinois (asst.)
2009–2015	Western Carolina
2015–2016	Cal State Fullerton (Associate HC)
2016–2023	Wisconsin–La Crosse
2023–present	Duke (asst.)
Head coaching record
Overall	174–184 (.486)
Tournaments	0–1 (NCAA D3)

Karen Middleton is an American basketball coach who is currently an assistant coach for the Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team.

On June 21, 2016, she became the 15th head coach of the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Women's Basketball team.

Prior to her hiring at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, she spent one year as an Associate Head Coach at California State University, Fullerton.

On May 15, 2009, she became the 10th head coach of Western Carolina University Women's Basketball, succeeding Kelly Harper, who was named head coach at NC State University. ^[1]

Prior to her appointment to Western Carolina, she spent two years as an assistant coach at Illinois.

Playing career

Middleton attended the University of South Carolina and was a four-year letter winner. ^[2] She was a team captain, team MVP and a two-time All-Metro Conference selection and finished her career as the fifth-leading scorer in school history with 1,714 points.

Middleton became the best shooter in USC history and holds school records for career 3FG made (317), career 3FG percentage (44.5), season 3FG made (115) and season 3FG percentage (46.9). Middleton led her team to four NCAA Tournaments (including a Sweet 16 appearance),and was selected twice as GTE Academic All-District.

Born in Monroe, N.C., she graduated from McBee High School in McBee, S.C., and was the SC player of the year twice (1986 and '87).

South Carolina statistics

Source ^[3]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1987–88	South Carolina	34	408	42.4%	43.4%	70.4%	2.4	2.7	0.7	0.1	12.0
1988–89	South Carolina	30	325	46.3%	45.5%	63.2%	2.3	3.0	1.1	0.2	10.8
1989–90	South Carolina	33	437	49.8%	46.9%	71.4%	4.5	3.2	1.3	0.1	13.2
1990–91	South Carolina	31	544	42.8%	43.4%	82.1%	4.7	3.9	1.7	0.0	17.5
Career	South Carolina	128	1714	45.0%	44.5%	74.7%	3.5	3.2	1.2	0.1	13.4

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Western Carolina Catamounts (Southern Conference)(2009–2015)
2009–10	Western Carolina	7–23	6–14	T–7th
2010–11	Western Carolina	9–22	6–14	10th
2011–12	Western Carolina	14–17	8–12	7th
2012–13	Western Carolina	7–23	5–15	9th
2013–14	Western Carolina	15–17	7–11	T–7th
2014–15	Western Carolina	11–19	3–11	T–6th
Western Carolina:		63–121 (.342)	35–77 (.313)
Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles (WIAC)(2016–2023)
2016–17	Wisconsin-La Crosse	16–11	9–5	T–3rd
2017–18	Wisconsin-La Crosse	16–10	9–5	T–2nd
2018–19	Wisconsin-La Crosse	22–4	10–4	T–2nd
2019–20	Wisconsin-La Crosse	19–8	10–4	T–2nd	NCAA Division III First Round
2020–21	Wisconsin-La Crosse	5–5	4–4	4th
2021–22	Wisconsin-La Crosse	14–12	5–8	5th
2022–23	Wisconsin-La Crosse	19–7	8–6	T–4th
Wisconsin-La Crosse:		111–57 (.661)	55–36 (.604)
Total:		174–184 (.486)
National champion        Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Academic

In 1991, Middleton graduated cum laude with a BA, and also earned an Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Physical Education in 1993, both from South Carolina.

References

1. "Karen Middleton =Western Carolina University". 2009.
2. "Karen Middleton =The University of Illinois". 2009. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
3. "South Carolina Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.

External links

• Karen Middleton Bio on Catamountsports.com