BIRMINGHAM, AL – Kellie Harper watched SEC basketball from a different perspective than she was used to last season.

Harper spent the year away from coaching after she was fired as Lady Vols basketball coach in April 2024. But she stayed involved as a studio analyst for SEC Network. Instead of watching SEC teams on her laptop scouting them, she watched them from behind the desk.

The new perspective allowed her to appreciate teams in a different way, Harper said Oct. 15 at SEC Basketball Tipoff ’26 at the Grand Bohemian Hotel. She returned to the event as the women’s basketball coach at Missouri, where she was hired in March.

“I was able to embrace the athleticism, embrace the coaching abilities, embrace the play that we have in this league,” Harper said. “It was really fun to celebrate that, instead of trying to figure out how you’re going to beat it. It was a nice change. We as coaches don’t often get to do that.

“We’re so competitive. You rarely take that coaching hat off and just sit back and appreciate and celebrate the play. That was a lot of fun for me.”

Working for SEC Network also kept Harper so involved with basketball that she was ready to get back into coaching.

“I enjoyed looking at it in a different lens, but also there are some things that are just meant to be,” Harper said. “I just feel like I’m meant to coach basketball.”

Why Missouri was the right job for Kellie Harper

One of the reasons Harper felt like Missouri was the right job was the support she felt for women’s basketball from Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch. And she’s confident in her ability to recruit in the region after coaching at Missouri State for six years.

But Harper also wanted to be back coaching in the SEC.

“I want to be part of the best,” Harper said. “I embrace the competition. I embrace the challenge. I’m very familiar with what we’re up against. I get it. There’s something to that. This is home for me.”

Harper spent five seasons coaching at Tennessee, where she won three national championships as a player under legendary coach Pat Summitt. She led the Lady Vols to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2022 and 2023.

Harper’s experience at Tennessee and familiarity with the teams in the conference will help guide her as she looks to rebuild a struggling Missouri program. The Tigers have only won 5 SEC games in the last two seasons, finishing last in the conference both seasons.

But Harper isn’t deterred. She knows the challenge ahead of her.

“I understand how difficult this is. I get it. I’m not new to that,” Harper said. “This league is different. The competitiveness and the intensity of the games night in and night out for the duration of the season is hard to process until you’re in the middle of it. I do think having that experience and understanding exactly what we’re up against is really important for our team.”

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Kellie Harper felt ready to return to coaching at Missouri