NASHVILLE – Teresa Phillips, former director of athletics and head women’s basketball coach at Tennessee State University, has been selected for induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.
Phillips served at TSU for 31 years in various capacities, including women’s basketball coach and administrator. She became head coach in 1989, leading the team to their first Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) regular-season and tournament championships, as well as their first NCAA tournament appearance. During her 11 seasons as coach, she won 144 games and was twice named OVC Coach of the Year.
In 2001, Phillips became interim athletic director at TSU, a position she held full-time from 2002 until her retirement in 2020. She was responsible for numerous accomplishments during her tenure, including launching the first official TSU athletics website, building an indoor practice facility, securing an NCAA pilot grant, and serving as the men’s head basketball coach for one game in 2003.
Under her leadership, TSU won 12 OVC Championships, including five indoor track and field championships, three outdoor track and field championships, two volleyball titles, and one women’s basketball championship.
Before TSU, Phillips was head women’s basketball coach at Fisk University from 1984 to 1989. She began her coaching career at Vanderbilt University, where she had previously played as the first African American student-athlete in 1978. After graduating, she joined the Vanderbilt coaching staff in 1981 and won the women’s NIT tournament in 1984.
Phillips has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including being named one of the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports by Sports Illustrated in 2003 and one of the 10 Legends in Women’s Basketball in Tennessee by the Women’s Final Four in 2014. She was inducted into the Vanderbilt Hall of Fame in 2017 and the OVC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.
The induction ceremony for the 2023 Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame class will take place on Saturday, July 22, at the Omni Nashville Downtown.
