Ketara Chapel - Women's Basketball Coach

Ketara Chapel

Title:
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

Ketara Chapel enters her first season as an assistant coach with the Lady Raiders in the 2025-26 season, after spending the previous four years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with the Auburn Tigers (2021-25). While at Auburn, Chapel coached four All-SEC players and 15 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections.

In 2024-25, Chapel and the Tigers were defensively sound – ranking 28th nationally in turnovers forced per game with 19.90, making it three-straight seasons with a top-30 national ranking in turnovers forced. Chapel coached two All-SEC honorees in DeYona Gaston and Yuting Deng, while also coaching two players who averaged over 20+ points per games. Gaston, who scored 22.3 points per game, ranked 11th nationally in the category, while also ranking 17th in field goals (257) and 34th in field goal percentage (.543).

In her third season at Auburn (2023-24), Chapel helped the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 after posting a 20-12 overall record and 8-8 record in the SEC. In that same season, Auburn made it to the SEC Tournament semifinals and had a Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American Honorable Mention and an All-SEC First Team selection in Honesty Scott-Grayson. The Tigers would double their win total from 2021 to 2022, then earned a WNIT bid in 2023 for their first postseason appearance in four years. In her first season, Chapel coached the Tigers to their first top-25 win since 1997 after downing the No. 4-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols by 10.

Prior to her stint at Auburn, Chapel served as the Coordinator of Player Development at the University of Texas in 2020-21, as the Longhorns advanced to the Elite Eight and put together a 21-10 record that season. She also served as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State for two seasons after playing four years with the Bulldogs.

As a player at Mississippi State (2013-17), Chapel aided the team to the WNIT quarterfinals her freshman year, then to the program's first NCAA Tournament since 2010 the following season. As a junior, the Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, then as a senior, she helped the team to its first ever Final Four. While there, Mississippi State upset UConn to advance to the finals in 2017. In her playing career, Chapel was a four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member who appeared in 142 games and helped the Bulldogs to 111 victories.

A native of Temple, Texas, Chapel earned a bachelor's degree in coaching and teaching in 2017 before earning a master's degree in teaching – community college education in 2020, both from Mississippi State.