Western announces Feldhaus as next women’s basketball head coach

By Jacob Meikel

Missouri Western State University has found its new women’s basketball coach, bringing in Ashton Feldhaus, who will lead the program in her first head coaching job.

The former Eckerd College associate head coach was named the 10th head coach in program history on Monday after five seasons in St. Petersburg, Florida. The hiring comes nearly three weeks since news broke of former head coach Candi Whitaker leaving the Western women’s program to become the next head coach at North Alabama.

Feldhaus, a Kentucky native, joined Eckerd in 2019 before being promoted to associate head coach in 2022. The Tritons have made the NCAA Division II Tournament each of the last six seasons, including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2022-23 with Feldhaus helping lead the program on the sidelines. She was also recently named to the WBCA 30 under 30 class.

In a statement released by Missouri Western on Monday, athletic director Andy Carter shared his excitement about this new era of the program led by Feldhaus.

“The national search process brought forth an incredibly talented candidate pool. With the current wave of momentum in our women’s basketball program, we were meticulous in our search for talent, fit and a proven winner. Ashton checks all the boxes,” Carter said.

Feldhaus also offered her thoughts on her hiring in the statement released Monday, mentioning that she is “beyond excited to join Griffon Nation.”

“As soon as I stepped on campus it was clear that the support from the administration and the community is paramount to the success of Griffon Athletics,” Feldhaus said. “I am ready to get to St. Joseph and get to work!”

Missouri Western women’s basketball is coming off of a season in which it won 25 games in 2023-24, won the MIAA regular season title and was an automatic bid into the NCAA Women’s Division II Tournament, in which they were eliminated in the first round by eventual champion Minnesota State.