Former point guard Ashley Kyle begins her second season on the Lady Eagle bench and first as the lead assistant. Kyle replaces Ashley Tipton who coached for the Lady Eagles for four seasons after playing from 2005-09.

Tipton holds the three-point field goals made record of 222 in her career that looks to be in jeopardy as guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) enters her senior season 32 three-pointers away from passing the record.

"Kyle was on staff last year and did a really good job for us," Mincey said. "She has a high basketball IQ. When Tipton decided to move onto a different line of work, Kyle expressed interested in the job and made it very easy for me to move her into the top assistant job. It's been very beneficial for our program to have a very successful former Lady Eagle to mentor and coach the next generation. It's sad to see Tipton go because she has been with me from the beginning of my head coaching career. She deserves a lot of the credit for the success we had and that we will have in the future through recruiting and academic work. Even though Tipton will be missed, I'm glad we were able to add another former Lady Eagle."

In 2014-15, Kyle helped the Lady Eagles return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since her senior year in Mossy Creek. With four seasons of NCAA Tournament as a player and coach under her belt, she looks to continue her success this year and beyond.

"I think the experience of being there myself and being there last year for the returning players," Kyle said. "I think that brings a lot to the table. If you know a lot about it and what it takes to get there, you can do it two or three more times."

She expects the responsibilities to increase while she juggles being a nursing student.

"I think it changes mostly in that fact that I have do more scouting-wise. In practice I have a little more responsibility on the court as well as paper work.

Kyle was a member of the Lady Eagles from 2007-10 tallying 1,136 points and 486 assists in her career. Her point total is 10^th-highest in program history while her assists are fourth-most in a Lady Eagle uniform.

The Jefferson City, Tenn. native played in three NCAA Tournament including a senior season that saw the Lady Eagles start the year 16-0 ranking as high as eighth nationally. Kyle led that team to the round of 32 finishing the season with a 24-7 record.

The two-time All-South Atlantic Conference selection played locally at Jefferson County High School leading her team to two district titles and two region runner-ups. Kyle was a three-time All-District selection, a two-time All-Region performer and a McDonald's All-American nominee racking up over 1,400 career points and 429 career assists.

Kyle's father, Jeff, played basketball at Walters State and has run the TN Lady Trotters AAU program for 18 years, a program that Ashley has played or coached for since 1996.

Over the last two seasons, Ashley's sister, Whitney, was a key contributor to Carson-Newman's success finishing her senior season with the program record for free throw percentage in a season with an 89.5 percentage.

"It just runs in my blood pretty much," Kyle said. "Coaching the different age groups has helped me. Older kids are a lot easier than third or fourth-graders, but just learning the kids and the way that they grow physically and mentally is going to help me a lot in the college experience."