Longtime UB Assistant Sharkey Joins Legette-Jack at Syracuse
Kristen Sharkey, University at Buffalo alum and longtime assistant on Felisha Legette-Jack‘s UB staff, is joining the Syracuse women’s basketball program as an assistant coach and the team’s recruiting coordinator.
“Kristen has been with me for 10 years,” Legette-Jack said. “The first three as a player and the last seven as my assistant. To be on this journey with Coach Sharkey has been pure joy. Her work ethic, attention to detail and her passion for what we stand for is second to none. She is so ready to be a head coach, I am grateful that she decided to join me here at SU. Coach Sharkey will be our recruiting coordinator and will also oversee our post players. Orange Nation, please join me in welcoming Kristen Sharkey and her family to Syracuse University.”
For the last seven seasons, Sharkey helped build the Buffalo program into a perennial contender in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Buffalo has made four NCAA Tournament appearances during her time as an assistant coach at UB including a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2018.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be joining Coach Jack here at Syracuse,” Sharkey said. “Being her player for three years and on her staff as an assistant for the last seven at Buffalo has been a blessing. Coach Jack continues to grow young people with her intensity for this game and her relationship with her God. She is a master at relationships and pulling the best out of those around her. I love her system on the court and her ability to chess match basketball games. I cannot wait to get to work and squeeze every ounce of potential from our Orange women at Syracuse.”
In her first year on the sidelines the Bulls won the MAC Tournament and secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament and mentored All-MAC First Team selection JoAnna Smith and MAC Tournament MVP Stephanie Reid.
She’s helped develop nine All-MAC players during her time as an assistant coach including 2019 WNBA draft pick Cierra Dillard who was selected 22nd overall by the Minnesota Lynx. Summer Hemphill earned All-MAC Freshman Team honors in 2017 and was an All-MAC Second Team selection in 2019 and 2022 while being named to the Katrina McClain Award Watch List and the Preseason Cheryl Miller Award Watch List during her UB career.
The 2018 UB squad became the first team in school history, and only the second in MAC history, to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Buffalo advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with upset wins over South Florida and Florida State and finished the season ranked No. 21 in the final USA Today Coaches Poll.
This past season, Buffalo posted a 25-9 record and won the MAC Tournament securing a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Dyaisha Fair was named a finalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award and Georgia Woolley was the MAC Freshman of the Year.
As a player under Legette-Jack, Sharkey started 85-straight games to end her UB career. She led the Bulls to their first back-to-back winning seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15 since the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons.
Sharkey averaged 14.1 points and 8.1 rebounds as a senior at UB. She scored 1,264 points and had 758 rebounds during her career and is 10th on Buffalo’s all-time scoring list. She is tied for sixth in career games played at Buffalo and is fifth in free throw percentage (.772), eighth in free throws made (305), 11th in rebounds, and 13th in blocked shots (98).
Sharkey graduated from Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and earned her MBA from UB in 2021.
