Washington women’s basketball head coach Tina Langley has completely turned the Huskies program around in her five seasons at the helm, turning a 7-16 squad in 2021 into a 22-11 team that nearly advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2025.
Other programs might be beginning to take notice.
Alabama head coach Kristy Curry, who had been with the Crimson Tide since 2013, left for South Florida on Tuesday after former USF head coach Jose Fernandez was hired as head coach by the WNBA’s Dallas Wings. Alabama also exited the NCAA Tournament in the round of 32, falling to Louisville on Monday. 2025 was their fourth consecutive trip to the tournament.
Langley grew up in Jasper, Alabama, about an hour north of Tuscaloosa. She’s in the Hall of Fame at West Alabama, where she played basketball for two years, and holds a master’s degree from Alabama.
And, perhaps crucially, Langley’s buyout drops to around $175,000 on Wednesday, according to USA TODAY’s Mitchell Northam.
I got a copy of Washington coach Tina Langley’s contract. She’ll make about $720K this year. On April 1, buyout drops to $175K.
Noteworthy, considering she grew up and went to college not far from Tuscaloosa.
Alabama is not using a search firm to find Curry’s successor. #ncaaW
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) March 25, 2026
Curry’s reasons for departing Tuscaloosa may give Huskies fans hope, however. Northam said in a subsequent tweet that USF gave Curry a slight raise, but that her departure was more about revenue share and NIL resources than her own salary. AL.com reported Tuesday that Alabama was last in the SEC, not including private school Vanderbilt, in women’s basketball spending in 2025 at $5.4 million.
The Equity in Athletics Data Analysis database’s most recent report is from the 2024 fiscal year. It has that number at about $5.5 million for Alabama, but $6.9 million for Washington. That number ranks No. 7 in the Big Ten, behind Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Iowa, and Maryland, and would have been No. 8 in the SEC if it remained at that total in 2025.
That helps explain how Washington was able to retain two all-conference players – Sayvia Sellers and Elle Ladine – while adding USC transfer Avery Howell, five-star forward Brynn McGaughy, four-star forward Nina Cain, and Kyrie Irving-mentored Australian point guard Sienna Harvey.
It might also help explain why Langley would stick in Seattle, especially with Sellers, Howell, and McGaughy set to return next season. All three have fairly local ties to Washington – McGaughy is from the eastern side of the state, Howell is from western Idaho and played AAU basketball with McGaughy, and Sellers is from Anchorage, Alaska.
Langley also did not appear on coaching boards posted by Bama Hammer or On3’s Talia Goodman. Goodman did list former Huskies head coach Mike Neighbors, who coached at Washington from 2013-17 before heading to his alma mater, Arkansas, from 2017-2025. Neighbors resigned from Arkansas to take a job with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, but Goodman reported he will likely be looking for a head coaching job in college this offseason.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: UW women’s basketball head coach Tina Langley linked to SEC opening
