Kellie Harper balances Division I coaching with a renewed commitment to horse riding and personal growth. She prepares to coach Missouri while taking riding lessons from Crystal Kendrick, practicing trust, patience and not overthinking during jumping drills on a horse named Roger. Harper reflects on being self-taught in riding and now learning from coaching. Harper is in her 21st season as a Division I head coach and her first at Mizzou after a painful April 2024 dismissal from Tennessee, where she won three straight NCAA championships as a player. She spent a year away, reconnected with family, worked as an SEC Network analyst, and embraced horses as part of recovery.
""I've been riding since I was 5 years old, but I never had lessons," she says. "It was all self-taught, and now I'm learning about everything I do wrong. You've gotta be patient. You've gotta learn to trust yourself. Not overthink things. "How many times do we coaches tell our kids that? Now, I have to apply it to myself. Getting coached is making me a better coach.""
""It's game day for the Missouri women's college basketball team. In about eight hours, Kellie Harper, on the sidelines in a winter-white suit and sparkling gold shoes, will coach the Tigers to a victory. But this cloudy morning, she's in grey riding pants and tall boots, sitting atop a horse named Roger. Someone else is coaching. Crystal Kendrick instructs Harper as she rides on the soft dirt of the training ring.""
Read at ESPN.com
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