Katy’s Spotlight on Women - Rebecca Tillett, Saint Louis University

By Katy Young Staudt, Vice President at TurnkeyZRG

Welcome to March. One of my favorite months of the year. The month of buzzer beaters, upsets, Cinderella stories, and of course, watching and cheering on our clients across college athletics. 

This time last year, we worked on a record number of women’s basketball searches, including Saint Louis University who hired Coach Rebecca Tillett from Longwood University. Rebecca is no stranger to historical turnarounds. She took a team at Longwood who had won a total of 6 games in 2 years prior to her arrival and miraculously turned the program around in an impressive 4 years.  

In her 4th season, Coach Tillett had the Lancers playing in the NCAA Tournament-- ending the season with an impressive 22-12 record. Now, in her first year as a SLU Billiken, Rebecca’s team captured the A-10 Tournament championship and earned an automatic bid to the “Big Dance” for the first time in program HISTORY!!  I’m excited to highlight Coach Rebecca Tillett in this month’s spotlight on women.

Cutting down the nets

What do you love most about your current job at SLU?

Our women! This group of student-athletes, who went past the expectation of buying in that so many people talk about as being the foundation of culture building. Insteadm they fully immersed themselves in the process.

What advice would you give to a young person looking get into coaching? 

My advice would be the same advice my dad gave me, and that is to study. Study successful coaches, read books, watch videos, attend clinics, call coaches, ask questions, and develop a group of mentors.

Who has had the biggest impact/influence on your career as a coach?  (and why)? 

I am one of six coaches in my immediate family. My mom, dad and brothers- Daniel, Nate, and Jonah all coach. Each Sunday-night meal was a discussion of our teams and the journey of each.

What is the best/most memorable sporting event you’ve attended, played in, or coached in? 

Certainly the A10 Tournament is the most memorable right now. For this group to do what we did in the storybook way will be a "core memory" as our women have taught us to say.

What is your guilty pleasure? 

I am not sure it is guilty, but I love to garden. It is on my list to visit every garden store in St. Louis.

Favorite restaurant in St. Louis? 

Mama's on The Hill

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ABOUT TURNKEYZRG

Founded in 1996, TurnkeyZRG is a highly specialized talent recruitment/executive search firm filling C-level, senior-level and mid-management level positions throughout sports, entertainment and media. Over the past 25 years, TurnkeyZRG has filled more than 1,400 positions throughout sports, entertainment and media. TurnkeyZRG helps teams, leagues, stadiums, arenas, theaters, college athletic departments, events, sponsors, agencies, media companies, private equity companies and other clients identify, recruit and hire the very best management talent. Turnkey now benefits from ZRG’s global footprint, full array of industry practice groups, data-driven, analytical search tools, and technology investment in changing the way executive search/talent recruiting is done. TurnkeyZRG becomes a tech-enabled disrupter of the prior executive search model. For more information about TurnkeyZRG, visit www.turnkeyzrg.com.