Photo by: Miami Universty Communications & Marketing
Box Announces Women's Basketball Staff
5/24/2023 4:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball
OXFORD, Ohio – Miami University women's basketball head coach Glenn Box has announced his coaching staff. Joining the RedHawks are Ben Wierzba (Associate Head Coach), Evelyn Thompson (Assistant Coach), Keyanna Warthen (Assistant Coach) and Megan Belke (Director of Operations).
Ben Wierzba - Associate Head Coach
Wierzba brings 22 years of coaching experience to Oxford, Ohio, including four as a head coach. He spent the past eight seasons as an assistant coach for the women's basketball program for Mercer University. During his time, the Bears compiled a 166-80 overall and 87-24 SoCon record. They advanced to four NCAA Tournaments (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) and two WNIT Tournaments (2016, 2017) while capturing five regular season championships in Wierzba's eight-year span.
With the Bears, he helped produce one WNBA Draft selection, five conference player of the year winners, four defensive player of the year honors and two freshman of the year award winners.
Before joining Mercer, Wierzba coached men's basketball for several programs. He spent time as an assistant coach at SIU Edwardsville (2014-15) and was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Illinois Springfield (2010-14). Wierzba also had stops at St. Joseph's College (2001-02), the United States Military Academy (2002-04), Lewis University (2004-06), SIU Edwardsville (2006-07) and the University of Evansville (2007-10).
Wierzba played two years at Lake Lands College (1995-97), before playing one season at South Alabama (1997-98) and a final year at SIU Edwardsville (1998-99). He completed his liberal arts degree from SIU Edwardsville in 2000.
He is married to his wife, Liz, and has three children (Addy, Livvy and Eli).
Evelyn Thompson - Assistant Coach
Thompson comes to Miami after serving as the head women's basketball coach at Cleveland State Community College for the past six years. Under her guidance, the Cougars compiled an 85-56 overall and 62-35 conference record. This past season, she coached the conference's offensive player of the year and freshman of the year, all while leading the team to the conference semifinals.
In all, Thompson has over 25 years of coaching experience at schools such as Michigan State, Buffalo, Arizona State, Western Kentucky, Stony Brook, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State. She also served as a recruiting coordinator for nationally ranked programs and her tenure included a Sweet Sixteen appearance while at Michigan State and five NCAA tournament appearances.
Prior to joining CSCC, she was an assistant coach for Tennessee Tech (2015-16) and Tennessee State (2016-17), serving as the team's recruiting coordinator/defensive coordinator her final season.
Thompson was named head coach of the Michigan Crossover AAU Nike Elite team in 2011, where more than a dozen of her players were among the top recruits in the nation. She served as a consultant and evaluator for Blue Star Basketball before joining the staff at Tennessee Tech.
She served as an assistant head coach at Stony Brook from 2009-2011, and in January 2011 she was elevated to interim head coach for the final three months of the season. Thompson added stops at Michigan State (2007-09), Buffalo (2002-07), Western Kentucky (1993-94) and Arizona State (1990-93).
As a student-athlete, Thompson helped her Junior College, Northeast Mississippi, win an NJCAA National Championship in 1986-87. Thompson was named a Kodak All-American in 1988. In 2009, she was inducted into the Northeast Mississippi Community College Hall of Fame, followed by an induction into the MACJC Hall of Fame in 2018.
At the conclusion of her sophomore college career, she attended Auburn University. While at Auburn, she helped the Tigers to two NCAA National Championship runner-up finishes (1989 and 1990). Her team also won two SEC Championships, and she was named to the SEC All-Tournament and NCAA Region All-Tournament teams.
Thompson graduated from Auburn in 1990 with a bachelor of arts in English. She was inducted into the Georgia Metros AAU Hall of Fame in 2006.
Keyanna Warthen - Assistant Coach
Warthen comes to Miami after spending the past season as a graduate assistant with the women's basketball program at Oklahoma State University. While with the Cowgirls, she supervised off-season programs for current student-athletes and played a vital role with OSU's recruiting efforts. She also worked directly with head coach Jacie Hoyt to implement teaching and instructions for sport-specific skills and strategy in practice.
Prior to joining OSU, Warthen served as a marketing intern with the Dallas Wings of the WNBA in 2022. While gaining marketing experience in a professional league setting, she added skills in social and digital content as well.
Warthen was a student athlete with Indiana women's basketball from 2017-2021, before finishing her career at Southern Methodist University for the 2021-22 campaign. She graduated from IU with a youth development degree in 2021 and completed her masters degree in sports management from SMU in 2022.
Megan Belke - Director of Operations
Belke begins her second year as Women's Basketball Director of Operations for the RedHawks.
Belke came to Miami after two years as a graduate assistant for the Malone women's basketball program. Malone advanced to the DII GMAC Tournament in 2021 and 2022. She also served as the junior varsity women's basketball head coach at Malone during the 2021-22 season.
She also spent time at the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Dream Team Member in 2021. During her time, she helped run the 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame enshrinements, the NFL Hall of Fame Game and the Concert for Legends.
She also spent time at the NCAA Career In Sports Form (2020), Student-Athlete Welfare and Development Intern at Grand Valley State (2020), Strength and Conditioning Intern at Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School (2019) and Marketing Director for "Rally With the Rapids for Special Olympics" (2018).
A former student-athlete at GVSU, Belke was a member of Laker teams that advanced to four-straight GLIAC Tournaments and four-straight trips to the NCAA DII Tournament. The Lakers advanced to the DII Sweet 16 in 2019. She played in 48 career games, scored 144 points and pulled down 105 rebounds. By the time of her graduation, the Lakers finished with a 107-22 record, the best senior class winning percentage in program history. In the classroom, Belke was named to the GLIAC Women's Basketball All-Academic Team and the GVSU Dean's List in 2019 and 2020.
She earned her Bachelors of Science in sport management degree from Grand Valley State University in 2020 and completed her masters of organizational leadership from Malone in 2022.
Ben Wierzba - Associate Head CoachWierzba brings 22 years of coaching experience to Oxford, Ohio, including four as a head coach. He spent the past eight seasons as an assistant coach for the women's basketball program for Mercer University. During his time, the Bears compiled a 166-80 overall and 87-24 SoCon record. They advanced to four NCAA Tournaments (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) and two WNIT Tournaments (2016, 2017) while capturing five regular season championships in Wierzba's eight-year span.
With the Bears, he helped produce one WNBA Draft selection, five conference player of the year winners, four defensive player of the year honors and two freshman of the year award winners.
Before joining Mercer, Wierzba coached men's basketball for several programs. He spent time as an assistant coach at SIU Edwardsville (2014-15) and was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Illinois Springfield (2010-14). Wierzba also had stops at St. Joseph's College (2001-02), the United States Military Academy (2002-04), Lewis University (2004-06), SIU Edwardsville (2006-07) and the University of Evansville (2007-10).
Wierzba played two years at Lake Lands College (1995-97), before playing one season at South Alabama (1997-98) and a final year at SIU Edwardsville (1998-99). He completed his liberal arts degree from SIU Edwardsville in 2000.
He is married to his wife, Liz, and has three children (Addy, Livvy and Eli).
Evelyn Thompson - Assistant CoachThompson comes to Miami after serving as the head women's basketball coach at Cleveland State Community College for the past six years. Under her guidance, the Cougars compiled an 85-56 overall and 62-35 conference record. This past season, she coached the conference's offensive player of the year and freshman of the year, all while leading the team to the conference semifinals.
In all, Thompson has over 25 years of coaching experience at schools such as Michigan State, Buffalo, Arizona State, Western Kentucky, Stony Brook, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State. She also served as a recruiting coordinator for nationally ranked programs and her tenure included a Sweet Sixteen appearance while at Michigan State and five NCAA tournament appearances.
Prior to joining CSCC, she was an assistant coach for Tennessee Tech (2015-16) and Tennessee State (2016-17), serving as the team's recruiting coordinator/defensive coordinator her final season.
Thompson was named head coach of the Michigan Crossover AAU Nike Elite team in 2011, where more than a dozen of her players were among the top recruits in the nation. She served as a consultant and evaluator for Blue Star Basketball before joining the staff at Tennessee Tech.
She served as an assistant head coach at Stony Brook from 2009-2011, and in January 2011 she was elevated to interim head coach for the final three months of the season. Thompson added stops at Michigan State (2007-09), Buffalo (2002-07), Western Kentucky (1993-94) and Arizona State (1990-93).
As a student-athlete, Thompson helped her Junior College, Northeast Mississippi, win an NJCAA National Championship in 1986-87. Thompson was named a Kodak All-American in 1988. In 2009, she was inducted into the Northeast Mississippi Community College Hall of Fame, followed by an induction into the MACJC Hall of Fame in 2018.
At the conclusion of her sophomore college career, she attended Auburn University. While at Auburn, she helped the Tigers to two NCAA National Championship runner-up finishes (1989 and 1990). Her team also won two SEC Championships, and she was named to the SEC All-Tournament and NCAA Region All-Tournament teams.
Thompson graduated from Auburn in 1990 with a bachelor of arts in English. She was inducted into the Georgia Metros AAU Hall of Fame in 2006.
Keyanna Warthen - Assistant CoachWarthen comes to Miami after spending the past season as a graduate assistant with the women's basketball program at Oklahoma State University. While with the Cowgirls, she supervised off-season programs for current student-athletes and played a vital role with OSU's recruiting efforts. She also worked directly with head coach Jacie Hoyt to implement teaching and instructions for sport-specific skills and strategy in practice.
Prior to joining OSU, Warthen served as a marketing intern with the Dallas Wings of the WNBA in 2022. While gaining marketing experience in a professional league setting, she added skills in social and digital content as well.
Warthen was a student athlete with Indiana women's basketball from 2017-2021, before finishing her career at Southern Methodist University for the 2021-22 campaign. She graduated from IU with a youth development degree in 2021 and completed her masters degree in sports management from SMU in 2022.
Megan Belke - Director of OperationsBelke begins her second year as Women's Basketball Director of Operations for the RedHawks.
Belke came to Miami after two years as a graduate assistant for the Malone women's basketball program. Malone advanced to the DII GMAC Tournament in 2021 and 2022. She also served as the junior varsity women's basketball head coach at Malone during the 2021-22 season.
She also spent time at the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Dream Team Member in 2021. During her time, she helped run the 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame enshrinements, the NFL Hall of Fame Game and the Concert for Legends.
She also spent time at the NCAA Career In Sports Form (2020), Student-Athlete Welfare and Development Intern at Grand Valley State (2020), Strength and Conditioning Intern at Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School (2019) and Marketing Director for "Rally With the Rapids for Special Olympics" (2018).
A former student-athlete at GVSU, Belke was a member of Laker teams that advanced to four-straight GLIAC Tournaments and four-straight trips to the NCAA DII Tournament. The Lakers advanced to the DII Sweet 16 in 2019. She played in 48 career games, scored 144 points and pulled down 105 rebounds. By the time of her graduation, the Lakers finished with a 107-22 record, the best senior class winning percentage in program history. In the classroom, Belke was named to the GLIAC Women's Basketball All-Academic Team and the GVSU Dean's List in 2019 and 2020.
She earned her Bachelors of Science in sport management degree from Grand Valley State University in 2020 and completed her masters of organizational leadership from Malone in 2022.
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