Rekha Patterson leaves SEMO, joins UCF as assistant coach

It was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

After a 9-20 season in which the Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball team was a game short of returning to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, head coach Rekha Patterson was focused on reloading the roster in preparation for her 10th season with the Redhawks.

Then an old friend reached out to her.

Central Florida head coach Sytia Messer was in need of an assistant to fill out her staff in time for her second year at the helm and contacted Patterson about the position. The Knights finished 12-17 and 3-15 during their first season in the Big 12.

The two coaches have known each other for a decade as branches from the Kim Mulkey coaching tree.

“It kind of was like an organic situation,” Patterson said. “She kind of talked about what she was looking for, and it honestly gives me a little bit more job security. That's really the big thing. It gave me more job security than what SEMO was willing to give.”

It wasn’t an easy decision or well-timed. Her departure comes merely weeks after the program announced the arrival of DI transfers Rain Green (UMKC), Jaela Johnson (Bellarmine), and Kennedy Claybrooks (Texas State).

Patterson was reassured about her decision at church on Sunday, when her pastor said, “Divine timing often presents as an inconvenience.”

“This timing isn’t great for sure,” Patterson said, “but some things happen for a reason.”

As an assistant coach at UCF, her role will mainly center around recruiting.

“My focus is just to go down there and try to recruit some really talented players to help us win,” Patterson said. “The plan is to go down there and reestablish relationships with coaches in the state of Florida. At my time at Baylor, we were able to recruit three top players in the state of Florida and convinced them to go play at Baylor.”

Patterson compiled a 126-142 record in nine years as head coach of the Redhawks. Under her leadership, SEMO won the 2020 OVC Tournament championship but could not participate in the NCAA Tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was also named the 2019-20 OVC Coach of the Year.

“I do think that we did what we could here to build this into a really good program,” Patterson said. “[SEMO athletic director Brady Barke] mentioned that the program is in a better space than it was when I took over nine years ago.”

Patterson was the program’s first female head coach in the Division I era (since 1991) upon her hiring in 2015.

“People were telling me since I got here that I wouldn’t be here long, and I was here nine years,” Patterson said.

Her office included a wall of photos of players who finished their careers and graduated at SEMO, a tradition started by Jesse Hershberger, a former player of Patterson’s. It’s a reminder that sports is a people’s business, and the connections made go beyond the scores and standings.

“I was taking those pictures down this weekend and sending each of those players their picture,” Patterson said, “and really grateful to still have relationships with those kids and still reach out and look back over that time and just be like, wow there’s a lot of players that came through here and got their degree, which was super important.”

On top of serving as the head coach of the Redhawks, Patterson was also a member of the Cape Girardeau Public Library Board of Trustees since 2017.

“I got a chance to serve on a couple of boards and serve the community, which I thought was important for the program and myself,” Patterson said. “We brought the community a championship, and so, really proud of that and what SEMO women’s basketball means in this community.”