After a record 12-day search, the position of Head Women’s Basketball Coach has been filled at Southeast Missouri State University.
The new coach, Briley Palmer, was introduced in a press conference late Thursday morning, May 16, in the Upper Concourse of the Show Me Center.
"So what I found in Riley Palmer is somebody who's a rising star in this profession. She's had an opportunity to be a head coach, and she has been successful. Tons of energy, passion— I think when I talk to people about her, those were the words that kept coming up over, and over, and over..."
Those were just some of the words of praise from VP for Intercollegiate Athletics Brady Barke before a group of excited fans, family, and supporters.
Briley Palmer is a familiar face in the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference—her previous team, just 80 miles north, the Mineral Area College Lady Cardinals-- finished second in the 2023-24 season, and during the 2014-15 season, she helped lead Mineral Area to its first-ever Region 16 Championship.
She arrives as the ninth head coach in SEMO women’s basketball history, after the recent departure of coach Rekha Patterson who spent nine years at SEMO in the first head coaching job of her career.
Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brady Barke shared his reason for hiring Palmer to carry the Women Redhawks into their next chapter.
"The 'X Factor,' in a sense for her, was that Southeast Missouri means something to her. You know, she grew up in Farmington. She has coached in Southeast Missouri. She has a lot of family and friends that have graduated from SEMO. And so this place is special to her. She understands that basketball in Southeast Missouri is important", said Barke.
This is Coach Palmer’s first NCAA Division 1 Job as head coach, but she’s had a lifetime of experience in basketball, both as a player and coach.
Palmer graduated from Farmington High School in 2007, leading the Farmington Lady Knights to their first district championship, 24 straight wins, and a final-four appearance in the Missouri state tournament as a senior.
She played at Mineral Area College and Christian Brothers University in her collegiate career.
With the Lady Cards, she rounded out her two-year stint with her team, ranking third in the nation in their 3-point field goal percentage.
After her final two seasons of college basketball at CBU, she stayed on as a grad assistant for one year.
She talked about this period of growth and what drove her to further her basketball career.
"Coach Cook who was at Mineral Area [College] at the time was like, 'Hey, you need to come play for me' and you know, being a local kid, I'm like, 'Nah, you know, that's too close to home', whatever we say. And he just kept on and kept on me, and I became the player I was, because of him", said Palmer.
She recounted some of her other experiences at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, where she played for two years and became a grad assistant, while there.
Then, she returned to MAC, where she took an assistant coaching position for eight years before being named head coach of the women's basketball team. That's where she also met her husband—who played basketball at CBU.
When asked about the future of collegiate basketball, she said the transfer portal has been the biggest challenge in building and maintaining a team.
"Kids can just leave, you know—they can get up and leave, and not really have a reason and you don't really know why. And, you know, it dwells on a coach. So I think that's probably the biggest hurdle that I see now", Palmer said about the reality of college sports.
She emphasized that building the 'right relationships and recruiting the right kids' can sometimes slow down roster turnover.
Palmer said, ultimately she is ready to get started, and thrilled to be coaching a Division I team so close to home.
"I can't wait to meet this community...and get all this media stuff out of the way— like I can't wait to be out [in] the community—that's what I'm great at, is building those relationships."
Looking to the months ahead, Palmer said, "I've got a little time before but you know, we get in a team— so that'll be my time to kind of get out and mingle, and then I'll have a summer to figure the rest out."
During the announcement before SEMO fans, supporters, and family members, Coach Palmer credited her husband Jimmy, their two daughters, and previous coaches for believing in her throughout her life—even acknowledging her second-grade coach.
Her husband, Jimmy Palmer is the Athletic Director at North County High School in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
Over the summer, she’ll have time to meet with community members and immediately focus on recruiting and building support from around the region.
On building excitement around the SEMO Women's Basketball team, she focused on the fundamentals.
“Putting people in the stands, right? That's a big thing that people talk about. I think being excited about both [teams]", said Palmer. "I was at a program this year where the men's and women's programs had each other's backs—and I think that really built a lot of camaraderies... it was always that we were including each other and I think that's what [the] community liked to see."
With the help of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brady Barke and staff, newly named Coach Briley Palmer has a team that seems ready to rally the Redhawks community into a new era of SEMO Women's Basketball.
Palmer agreed to a five-year contract which will run through April 30, 2029.
Watch a video of the conference in the link below.
