New OSU women's basketball coach Jacie Hoyt looking for 'people who are a good fit' on roster, staff

STILLWATER — With fresh Nikes and a hat of America’s brightest orange, Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Jacie Hoyt stood and waved to the applauding crowd when she was introduced during the OSU softball game on Sunday afternoon.

Recruits by her side, the newest Cowgirl already was hard at work, though her warm welcome to Stillwater has helped ease the transition to her busy new life.

“I feel like I’m in that movie ‘Pleasantville,’” Hoyt said, referencing the 1998 film starring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon. “Everyone has been so over-the-top nice here.

“I have not had one bad interaction with anyone. And that is with people who know who I am, but also people who don’t. So I think it speaks volumes to the type of people that are here.”

Tramel: Best candidate to coach OSU women's basketball is a female, whoever she might be

Hired away from the University of Missouri-Kansas City on March 20, Hoyt is less than two weeks into her run as the leader of Cowgirl basketball, but the whirlwind her life has become won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

The 34-year-old Hoyt has a coaching staff to assemble and a roster to fill.

Both are works in progress, with the coaching staff taking first priority, so that Hoyt can get a little help with scouting players, monitoring the transfer portal and recruiting athletes to OSU.

As of Wednesday, five players off of last season’s roster had entered the transfer portal, though it’s not a certainty those players will leave.

As for the coaching staff, Hoyt said she could have some of her assistant positions filled as early as sometime this week, starting with Wednesday's announcement that SMU assistant Jhasmin Player would join OSU as associate head coach.

“I just want to find people who are a good fit for me, who align with my personality and my goals and beliefs,” Hoyt said on Tuesday. “And I want people who are smarter than me. I want people who are going to challenge me and push me and complement me.

“I definitely want someone who is experienced and seasoned, because obviously, I just don't have that as much as I could, compared to who I'm going to be coaching against.”

Hoyt’s younger sister, Terran, was a graduate assistant on the Kansas City coaching staff, and Terran has been in Stillwater recently, helping Jacie get settled. But it’s undecided if Terran will join the Cowgirl staff.

More: Jacie Hoyt brings 'energy and passion' to OSU as new women's basketball coach

“The position she had at UMKC, she was kind of my right hand,” Jacie Hoyt said. “She’s on spring break right now, so it’s perfect for her to be here and help me out with things, and kind of be my gatekeeper.”

Former OSU coach Jim Littell had not signed any high school prospects as part of the 2022 recruiting class, having said that he intended to focus his efforts on the transfer portal. That’s where Hoyt will have to do most of her work, because virtually all of the Power 5-level high school recruits have signed by now.

Only one OSU player — forward Abbie Winchester — exhausted her eligibility following the 2022 season, so Hoyt took over a program with a nearly full roster.

But five players have since entered the transfer portal, according to reports.

It began with leading scorer Lauren Fields, a Shawnee native who averaged 15.4 points per game and was one of the team’s top defenders as a junior last season.

Also in the portal are point guard N’Yah Boyd, who made 11 starts among her 26 appearances, and 6-foot-5 Brittany Reeves, a backup center who played in 19 games. Boyd will be a senior and Reeves a super-senior next year.

They are joined by Tori Garza and Tracey Bershers, who combined to play in 15 games as freshmen last season.

“Just because you're in the transfer portal doesn't mean that you can't go back to the school that you're currently at,” Hoyt said. “It's just evaluating what we've got, and figuring out what we need.”

Tramel's ScissorTales: Small-town girl Jacie Hoyt should fit in well coaching OSU Cowgirls

Another potential super-senior, center Kassidy De Lapp, has not made an official announcement about her future, though her comments toward the end of the season suggested she was not expecting to return for her additional year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beyond that, Hoyt will be scouring the transfer portal for her next group of future Cowgirls. That could potentially include looking at her former players from Kansas City, six of whom have gone in the portal since Hoyt’s departure.

Among them are three of the team’s top six scorers, led by point guard Naomie Alnatas, who was an All-Summit League selection each of the past two years. Alnatas averaged 18.2 points per game and shot 41.8 percent from 3-point range last season.

“I’ve got to find people who fit with me,” Hoyt said. “I am not for everyone and I'm OK with that. But who I am and what I'm looking to put around me, people who aren't afraid of hard work, people who enjoy working hard, people who are naturally competitive and have high standards for themselves.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Jacie Hoyt filling staff, roster for Oklahoma State women's basketball