Alan Eads, the school's all-time winningest coach, begins his 19th season as the head coach of the Missouri S&T Women's Basketball program and has led the Miners to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances during that time.
Eads has guided Missouri S&T to 219 wins in his first 18 seasons at the helm, becoming the leader in wins on on Jan 29, 2011 when the Miners defeated Maryville 65-63 in overtime. He is currently third among active coaches in the GLVC in wins at his or her institution.
The Miners have made nine appearances in the GLVC Tournament under Eads, including trips to the semifinals in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
In the 2011-12 campaign, Eads guided S&T to its sixth winning season in the last seven years with a record of 18-9. The Lady Miners won their first eight games of the season and earned their first national ranking in 16 years moving as high as #24 in Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top-25 poll. S&T finished third in the GLVC West Division and advanced to the GLVC Tournament,
A year later, S&T won its opening round game in the conference over Missouri-St. Louis during a 16-12 season to reach the quarterfinal round in Evansville, Ind.
In 2010-11 Eads directed the Miners to a 20-8 record and 14-4 mark in the GLVC. The season highlights included a school record 11 straight wins, a victory over Drury for the first time in over 30 years, earning a share of the GLVC West Division crown and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in school history.
During the 2009-10 campaign Eads led S&T to records of 14-14 and 8-10 in the GLVC West Division with a team of eight newcomers. The Lady Miners advanced to the GLVC Tournament for the fifth straight season where they were defeated in the opening round by Lewis 69-62 at Southern Indiana.
Playing with a roster that included seven newcomers, the 2008-09 Lady Miners earned a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament and proceeded to reach the semifinal round for the third time in four years with a first round victory over Wisconsin-Parkside. S&T was eliminated by regular season champion and tournament host Quincy to finish at 16-13.
The Lady Miners made the conference tournament by winning two critical games late in the season, coming back from an 18-point deficit to win at Southern Indiana on the next-to-last weekend of the season, then closing the year with a 22-point win over Missouri-St. Louis to make the field.
Missouri S&T had its best season in school history during the 2007-08 season when it made its first trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 12 years. Under Eads' tuleage, the Lady Miners posted a record of 24-7 on the year, breaking the school record for victories in a year, and reached the championship game of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional before falling to eventual national champion Northern Kentucky.
S&T finished in second place in the GLVC West Division with a 15-4 record and won its opening round game in the conference tournament over Bellarmine before falling to NKU in the semifinals.
Missouri S&T earned the No. 3 seed to the regional tournament, then knocked off Michigan Tech for its first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament and Quincy in the semifinal round to reach the title game in Springfield, Mo.
In its first year in the conference, Missouri S&T won a game at a conference tournament for the first time since 1991 when it beat Lewis in the opening round of the 2006 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament before falling in the semifinal round to third-ranked Drury.
The Lady Miners posted a 9-17 record in their final year in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in 2004-05. In addition, the Lady Miners came away with their first season sweep of a conference opponent since the 1999-00 season and won an exhibition game over Division I Saint Louis along the way. Missouri S&T won its first five games of the season, its best start since the 1995-96 campaign.
The Lady Miners were 4-23 in the 2003-04 season in a year in which six freshmen saw significant playing time and while playing in a conference where four teams qualified for the NCAA Division II regionals. However, the Lady Miners did pull off one of their biggest victories in recent years with an upset win over a Quincy team that reached the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and lost in the quarterfinal round by a point to the eventual national champions.
Missouri S&T finished 5-20 in Eads' first year as head coach, but the Lady Miners improved by three games in conference play and was in contention for one of the final playoff spots until the final week. The improvement also showed in the results, as Missouri S&T had losses by three points to Emporia State and by six on the road to Missouri Western, two teams that reached the NCAA regional tournaments.
Eads came to Missouri S&T after serving as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State University for the previous eight seasons. He helped lead Southeast to a 16-12 overall record and 8-8 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference during the 2001-02 season, as the Otahkians finished fifth in the OVC standings. Southeast finished fourth in the OVC the previous year and won 19 games overall as recently as the 1998-99 season.
While at Southeast, Eads served as the team's chief recruiter and worked primarily with the post players and the team defense – a unit which was ranked third in the OVC this season after being the top defensive squad in the conference in the three previous years.
Eads has also built an impressive resume as a head coach, leading Moberly Area Community College to a record of 199-37 over a span of eight years from 1986-94. He took the Lady Greyhounds to the NJCAA national tournament on five occasions, including a third place finish in 1986-87 and fifth place showings in 1987-88 and 1993-94.
Moberly had two 30-win seasons under Eads and also had seasons with 29, 28 and 26 wins during his tenure. Eads was inducted in 2008 into the institution's Athletic Hall of Fame.
He was named as the Region XVI "Coach of the Year" on five occasions and also led the Lady Greyhounds to five region titles, all of which eventually led to berths in the national tournament. Moberly was the region runner-up on three other occasions and won the regular season title in all eight seasons Eads spent there.
During that time Eads coached eight players who earned All-America honors, including four that were named to the first team. He was also chosen after the 1990-91 season to serve as an assistant coach for the South team in the United States Olympic Festival in Los Angeles, Calif.; that team went on to win the gold medal during the 1991 festival.
Eads also served as the head coach at Moberly High School from 1979-83, where he led his teams to two district titles and two trips to the Missouri state tournament.
Eads is originally from Trenton, Mo., and earned his bachelor's degree in education from the University of Missouri-Columbia; he also received a master's degree in education from there. Eads and his wife, Nancy, live in Rolla.
