Elon University Athletics

Elon University head women's basketball coach Charlotte Smith announced the hiring of Kate Dempsey on May 3, 2012. A native of Burlington, N.C., Dempsey serves as the team's director of operations.

“It is with great excitement that we make Kate Dempsey part of the Elon women’s basketball family,” Smith said. “She brings experience in many facets of the profession both on and off the court. Kate will be a very valuable asset to our program."

Dempsey spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Presbyterian College before coming to Elon. Under her guidance, the Blue Hose finished the 2011-12 season with a 14-15 overall record, including an 8-10 mark in the Big South Conference. Both records stood as Division I and Big South-era bests.
 
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work for and learn from Coach Smith and the staff she has assembled,” Dempsey said. “I look forward to learning and contributing to the continuing success of this program.  Elon is a first class institution and I am excited to be back home in a community with such great support.”
 
As a player, Dempsey was a four-year letterwinner at Wofford from 2005-09. Dempsey averaged 5.5 points per game as a senior and ranked in the top-10 in the Southern Conference in blocked shots per game her final two seasons with the Terriers. After her collegiate career, Dempsey played one season professionally for the Santarém Basket Clube of Portugal.
 
Dempsey graduated from Williams High School in 2005 where she was a Street & Smith’s All-America Honorable Mention selection twice and an adidas All-America top-10 player as a senior. Dempsey and assistant men’s basketball coach Jack Wooten both graduated from Williams the same year.