Kuester relishes chance to coach at Saint Joseph’s
It wasn’t a surprise that Katie Kuester jumped right into coaching after graduating from Saint Joseph’s University in 2012.
Coaching is the family business. Her dad, John Kuester, spent more than 30 years as an assistant and head coach at the collegiate and NBA levels. That included two stints as an assistant coach with the 76ers (1997-2003 and 2005-06).
“It’s in my blood,” Katie Kuester said Monday night. “Growing up with my dad, and especially growing up in the Philly area, you develop a love for sports in general, and especially being a part of the Big 5, you develop even more of a passion for Philly sports. That was rooted in us early.”
Katie Kuester’s dream of being a coach goes back to her playing days on Hawk Hill. Yet the Media native and 2008 AllDelco selection from the Academy of Notre Dame didn’t want to coach just anywhere. Her goal was to be a coach at her alma mater.
“Saint Joe’s is such a special place,” Kuester said. “Everyone wants to come back.”
After stops at Lehigh as director of women’s basketball operations, her father’s alma mater, North Carolina, as video coordiator and finally as an assistant at Loyola-Maryland, Kuester finally was able to return to Saint Joseph’s as the director of basketball operations for the women’s team in 2015. After serving three years in that role, her wish to be an assistant coach there came true when Saint Joseph’s women’s coach Cindy Griffin promoted her to that position Monday.
“I’ve dreamt of this moment,” Kuester said. “I never really thought it would happen and to think that it has, it really means a lot to me and my family because that’s just what Saint Joseph’s means to me. It means the world to me. I’m excited to say the least.”
Kuester takes over for Stephanie McCaffrey, who stepped away from coaching.
“Katie is going to be a great asset for us,” Griffin said in a statement released by the university. “She’s a great recruiter and communicator and adds a lot of energy.”
She also brings along a pretty good sounding board, one Kuester has used quite a bit during her career. She knows that anytime she needs some guidance she can always turn to her father for help.
“We talk, honestly, 2-3 times a day at least,” Kuester said. “It’s constant, whether it’s me talking to him about my players or different input on different things. He never misses a game. He watches every single one of our games and gives us a ton of input to our coaching staff. It’s great to get another piece of advice from someone who’s not directly on the staff. That’s what he does for us. He’s really special to our program.
“He’s been around the game for so long and he’s coached at nearly every level. He has an extreme amount of passion for women’s sports, especially raising me. Women’s basketball has become one of his passions as well, whether it’s college basketball, the WNBA, he really loves the fundamental side of women’s basketball so he gives us his input constantly, which is so much appreciated because he really knows what he’s talking about. And it’s convenient, too, that he’s my father. So I take a little bit more pride in that as well.”
To the outsider, going from director of operations to assistant may seem like nothing more than a title change, but it is much more than that.
“Director of ops is more the logistical side of the job,” Kuester said. “It’s planning travel, planning all the camps, taking care of the team’s meals, their housing and helping them with the schedules, things like that, so it’s more logistical. As an assistant coach I’m on the court working with the kids and out recruiting. I’m able to call recruits and with scouting opponents and things like that so you go from more behind the scenes to being on the court.”
Kuester can’t wait to get started.
“I’ve been preparing for this position ever since I graduated from college, so it’s always been in the back of my mind to potentially be in this spot at some point in my life,” Kuester said. “It can be a little bit hectic, but when it’s something you’ve dreamt of, you don’t worry about that.”
Kuester’s promotion was one of two moves the Hawks announced Monday. Griffin also announced that Christine Foggie returns to the staff to take Kuester’s old job as the director of basketball operations. Foggie spent the last year working for Worldwide Express. Foggie was the team’s video coordinator while working on her master’s degree in 2017.