Shea Ralph Completes the Sweep as Vanderbilt’s SEC Coach of the Year
Shea Ralph is the SEC Coach of the Year
Today, the Southeastern Conference announced Vanderbilt women’s basketball Head Coach Shea Ralph as the SEC Coach of the Year.
On Sunday, Ralph accomplished her 100th career win at Vanderbilt after defeating Tennessee. She is having the time of her life, and talks about the fun and joy of it all.
“I love my team. I’m having such a fun time this year. I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun coaching,” said Ralph.
Ralph and the Dores are 27-3 as they head into Greenville, S.C. as the No. 2 seed in the SEC. With her great experiences and high IQ of the game as both a player and coach, Ralph wanted to restore the Vanderbilt women’s basketball program to give the alumni and fans something to be proud of, and she has done just that.
This season alone, the Dores have set program bests and have much more to accomplish. Ralph has led the 2025-26 season to the only undefeated home record in history at 16-0 in the regular season. They are also at a program’s best 13 SEC wins for the season.
Coach Ralph instills confidence and love into her team. She has also fostered a great culture. You don’t see and hear about drama with this program. An environment like that paired with great players will set up for a winning culture. Aubrey Galvan has talked about that, and she knew from the first time she talked with Shea Ralph that it was genuine.
“I mean, during the whole recruiting process, I’d focus on like three things. It was always a good culture. That was my number one, basically. Like, you find a good culture, and that can drive you a long way, just if you love the people there. I saw it in the coaching staff and everything,” she said.
“So another one was like a good coaching staff, and then also fitting the style of play. I just saw that in Vanderbilt, so I trusted that everything they said was true, and it really showed when I came down on my visit as well. And then Vanderbilt is also just a great school as well.”
All of that solidifies everything that Ralph speaks on and most importantly shows. She knows that the team goes off of her demeanor, as she has talked about being “the weather,” and how this all sets her team up for life.
“You’re gonna have ebbs and flows maybe to your energy, but if I stay steady, then they stay steady. I’m the weather,” said Ralph.
“I show up stormy and rainy and all pissed off, and thunder clouds and all the things, and then they’re gonna be like, oh, this is gonna be hard, you know? But if I don’t, if I show up, all right, every now and then, I gotta blow a gust of wind at them and then, you know, knock them out a little bit of whatever they’re in.
“I think if I show up a certain way, then my team knows that this is just how we operate. We create a habit and you know what? That’s gonna serve them well for the rest of their life. There’s a lot of stuff that they’re gonna face that’s hard and they don’t know it yet. But if we can teach ’em how to do hard things, just ’cause that’s what you do and that’s how you show up, then the rest of their lives they’ll be equipped to handle whatever comes their way.”
A great coach knows that everyone is different. The fact that she doesn’t put the team in a box and knows how to reach each player is what really sold me on Shea Ralph. That can be tough to do, especially when dealing with a college basketball team. Her IQ is elite.
“I mean, she just is a high-IQ person. She understands basketball and also knows that each player is different. So, it can’t be this player does this, this player does that, you should be able to do this and that. No, she knows who you are and what role you can play,” Galvan said.
“But I mean, she’s helped me a lot because she told me and has shown that she has confidence in me. But she also gives me great tips. She coaches me very well, because I’m still learning, and I’m always open to learning, especially from a great coach, and also other coaches on our coaching staff. I mean, everybody’s very smart, so we have a great coaching staff.”
Congratulations to Coach Shea Ralph on this deserving accomplishment.
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