Kemper familiar with task at UCA
CONWAY — There was a sense of finality to Wednesday’s reception for Tony Kemper.
The University of Central Arkansas’ new women’s basketball coach was introduced to boosters and media five days after the announcement of his hiring.
“I’ve been here since Monday, and we’ve been getting after it ever since,” Kemper said. “It’s great to be here.”
Kemper joins UCA after 11 seasons at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. He was an assistant for Matt Daniel, a former UCA women’s basketball coach, during the first five of those seasons and served as the Thundering Herd’s head coach from 2017-23. Kemper went 79-90 as Marshall’s head coach.
Kemper spent the six years prior to his time at Marshall in Conway as an assistant with the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
UCA’s Hall of Fame room, nestled above the football locker rooms and below the president’s suite inside Estes Stadium was full of purple and black Wednesday. Representatives from nearly every sport on campus were in attendance to welcome Kemper.
“That’s UCA,” Kemper said. “We’re gonna be a family atmosphere. We’re going to be a family environment. And I think it’s really the thing that’s going to attract great student athletes here is the aura of what the school is.”
UCA ended its 2023-23 season prematurely due to a lack of healthy players. When asked by a fan what he intended to do with the players and staff from former coach Sandra Rushing’s program, Kemper said there would be familiar faces on the court but a “fresh slate” on the bench.
“I’ve now met with the returning players. I’m excited to work with them,” Kemper said. “There’s a lot of things to work on, but there’s so many things about UCA that it’s just a matter of getting here, putting your nose down and getting to work.”
In Kemper’s final season in Conway in 2012, he and Daniel, the Sugar Bears’ head coach at the time, helped lead UCA to a Southland Conference regular-season title with a 24-7 record.
“Understanding how to win at a place is really important,” Kemper said. “I was in the same office and got a ring from 2012. I think understanding the path of how to get there is important when you’re looking at jobs.”