BY CAYDEN SANDERS
Earlier this month, Fort Hays State University announced the hiring of Talia Kahrs as the seventh head coach in women’s basketball program history. For Kahrs, who is the protege of former head coach Tony Hobson, becoming a head coach has been a long time coming for everyone.
“When Curtis [Hammeke] called me wanting to promote Talia, I could not wait to sign off on the move,” FHSU President Tisa Mason said at Kahrs’ introductory press conference. “She has helped this team succeed in recent years, and I don’t think the expectations drop for her and the team when the season starts.”
Kahrs was with the Tigers program first as a player in the 2008-09 season. From there, the former player became Hobson’s student assistant coach and then worked her way up the ladder and found herself in the assistant coaching position for 11 years. With the news this off-season of Hobson retiring, the move for the Athletics department was easy to make.
“I talked to Talia [Kahrs] right after Tony [Hobson] said that he was retiring,” FHSU Athletic Director Curtis Hammake said in Kahrs’ press conference. “Once Talia was on board, we knew she was the one we wanted to fill the role.”
After the Press Conference, TMN spoke with Kahrs and some current players on the team about the transition.
Kahrs and the team have already started in the transition, with meetings and expectations on where the team will be at the start of the fall semester. The schedule has not been released yet from the Tigers, but the expectations set by Hobson’s tenure, will not be forgotten by Kahrs and company going forward, as Kahrs has been a part of all the success.
In Kahrs tenure with the program, she competed in 52 games as a player. In her 12 years as a coach, she helped the team to a 293-78 record, reaching 20 wins every year since being a coach (the longest active streak among DII schools). Kahrs has been a part of the winningest program in the MIAA since the 2012 season.
During that stretch, FHSU achieved 30 wins three times, six MIAA championships, and a four-time No. 1 seed in the central region while earning an NCAA postseason berth seven times in the last nine seasons while making it to the regional championship three of those years.