Marsha Sharp credits much of the amazing success she experienced coaching women’s basketball – including winning a national championship at Texas Tech – to her time spent at Wayland Baptist University.
“I had the opportunity to be around two great sports people in Harley Redin and Dean Weese. They really changed my life,” Sharp said of the two former Flying Queens coaches. “I learned a lot about basketball in high school from Bud Roberts, but Coach Redin and Coach Weese taught me how to teach the game.”
During her 24-year career at Texas Tech, Sharp developed into one of the most successful women’s basketball coaches of all time, earning eight Southwest Conference/Big 12 Coach of the Year titles and one national coach of the year honor while guiding the Lady Raiders to the 1993 NCAA national championship.
“For me, (attending Wayland) was definitely a God-thing,” Sharp said. “It was the best decision I could have made. It impacted me every day of my career after that.”
Born in Oak Harbor, Wash., where her Navy father was stationed at the time, Sharp and her parents – Charles and Mary Dell who were high school sweethearts in Tulia – moved to Lubbock when her dad got out of the service so he could attend Tech on the GI Bill. He later worked at banks in Vernon, Lubbock, Roswell, N.M., and finally Tulia beginning when Marsha was in the seventh grade.
Sharp said moving around as much as the family did wasn’t always easy, but it taught her valuable lessons. “I learned how to fend for myself a little bit, and how to handle new circumstances and meeting new people. That was a benefit to me later. And the fact I landed in Tulia and was able to become involved in their sports programs was a big thing. Other places were a little slower in developing opportunities for girls in their school system, so I probably wouldn’t have had an opportunity to do some of the things I did.”
In addition to playing basketball, Sharp played tennis and ran track in high school. She participated in the first state track meet for girls, which included all classifications and was held in Abilene. Tulia won state a couple of times, not because of Sharp, she said, but mainly because of Mary Williams. “She won five gold medals and became the first black female athlete at Wayland.”
Sharp, meanwhile, didn’t decide to attend Wayland back in the early 1970s because of athletics.
“It wasn’t about sports. Neil Record, who was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Tulia, talked to me about going to Wayland, and they gave me a small scholarship rather than going to Texas Tech or West Texas. I also liked the idea of a small school and only being 25 miles from home.”
Once at Wayland, Sharp’s eventual career path began to blossom.
When she got to Wayland she was one of 18 freshmen competing for two spots on Redin’s Flying Queens team. “There were 16 left who were pretty good players.” Sharp was a member of the junior varsity squad, the Queen Bees, as a freshman and sophomore. “I wasn’t a great player, but I was passionate about the game. I spent a lot of time in the gym and around those players who were probably better than I was.”
Sharp also served as student assistant/trainer for the Flying Queens. “I scratched and clawed my way around the gym. I learned how to tape ankles and do all those things so I would be valuable enough so they would keep me. I was around a lot of really good players who loved the game. For me to spend time around them was special.”
At the same time, Sharp was soaking up knowledge from Redin and then from Weese, who took over as Flying Queens coach her senior season in 1973. “They were two of the best ever to coach. What a great opportunity.”
Weese gave Sharp the chance to coach the Queen Bees her senior season.
“I used to take the freshmen on my own in a blue van we called the ‘Blue Goose.’” Sharp’s Queens Bees went 34-3 that season and qualified for the AAU National Tournament in Gallup, N.M. “If the Queen Bees had won one more game, they would have faced the Flying Queens. I never liked to lose, but I might have been a little relieved (we lost) that game.
That same year, 1974-75, Sharp was driving back and forth to West Texas State to work on her master’s degree. “What an interesting time for me. People talk sometimes about paying your dues, but I was so grateful to watch Coach Weese and sit beside him on the bench when the Queens were at home.”
Sharp’s time at Wayland wasn’t all about basketball. She served as president of the Student Foundation that helped recruit high school students. “I really loved that. I got to practice some leadership skills.” She also served as administrative assistant/student worker in the religion department and also oversaw all of Wayland’s intramural sports. “That really helped me later as far as learning how to organize tournaments, handle disputes, get referees…all those different kinds of things. There were a lot of things going on in my world, but I couldn’t have asked for anything better for me.”
At the time, Sharp said there “weren’t so many (coaching) opportunities for women,” so she was thankful for the opportunity to serve as Weese’s graduate assistant coach in 1974-75 even though she didn’t realize many immediate benefits. “They paid my rent or at least helped me with an apartment near the campus.” To make money for groceries (she regularly bought pot pies: five for $1), Sharp took care of children at Plainview Community Day Nursery from 7 a.m.-noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“I used to tell my teams while I was coaching at Tech (that) you can find ways to make ends meet if you have to and not to be so concerned about what you’re getting out of something. Sometimes it’s more important what you’re going to get out of it that will last a lifetime.”
Sharp’s first full-time position came as a head coach at Lockney High School, where she worked from 1975-81. From there she went to Texas Tech, serving as an assistant for one season before taking over as head coach in 1982. “They took a big chance,” Sharp admitted. “Jeannine McHaney was women’s athletic director at that time. She had watched me coach Wayland when we played on the Tech campus and kept my name. As much as Coach Redin and Coach Weese helped me, Jeannine is a third person who meant so much to my career.”
And what a career it was. In her 24 years at Tech, Sharp’s Lady Raiders won 75 percent of their games (571-189), never had a losing season, and appeared in 18 NCAA Tournaments, including six Sweet 16 appearances, three Elite Eight showings and the coveted national title in 1993 when the Lady Raiders went 31-3.
“That was the most amazing year and moment. It was life-changing because of the attention the program received and the way it catapulted our program to a new level. Our fan base grew to where we had 13,000 people consistently coming to watch us play. Life changed drastically for a lot of us after that.
“I got to coach women’s basketball at a very special time. We realized we were fighting to make our own programs good but also trying to make women’s basketball relevant across the country. To see it go from 200 (fans) to 13,000 was really amazing. It just exploded, and for me to be a part of that was special.”
Sharp was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, three years before she retired. She now serves as Texas Tech’s associate athletic director for special projects.
While having a freeway named after you as well as a center for student-athletes are pretty good legacies, Sharp said she wants to be remembered for making her players better citizens and better people.
“I’m proud that most of our players left our program in a much better place than they came.” She said 98 percent of her Lady Raiders earned college degrees – only three did not. “That was something I was really adamant about and something everybody took a great deal of pride in.”
That number includes Flying Queens coach Alesha Ellis, who played for Sharp from 2003-07. “It’s fulfilling being able to follow the players that I coached. I’m really proud of Alesha and what she’s doing and the way she goes about her business.”
That Ellis’ success at Wayland was at least partly inspired by Sharp who also got her coaching start at Wayland is significant.
“To be able to say I am a graduate of Wayland and was a part of that (Flying Queens) program is such a point of pride for me,” Sharp said. “I’ve always been so proud Wayland is where I spent my college years. I made lifelong friends and obviously got a great education. The people there and the mission of the university to try to strengthen your faith plus give you a quality education is something you can’t put a price on. It was so integral for me, and I’ve been really blessed by all of that.
“(Wayland) helped me understand what’s important. Winning championships is a really special thing, but for me that big picture is about service and what you can do for other people. I’ve been able to use my career as a platform of what God gave me through basketball. All of that really started with ideas and thoughts from my education that came from Wayland.”
