Illinois State (Italy)
Redbirds head coach Kristen Gillespie went on two foreign trips as an assistant coach at NC State and UC Santa Barbara, but this is her first time taking a team overseas as a head coach—and her first trip to Italy. When she was hired in 2017, she and her staff knew they wanted to take a team overseas within a few years. They settled on 2019 because “we thought going into year three, with our recruiting classes and kind of the progress we’re making, this would be a great time.” Last season, Illinois State finished 18-12, a four-game improvement from Gillespie’s first season, and the coaching staff hopes that the trip to Italy will help the Redbirds be even better in 2019-20.
Like most of her teammates, senior TeTe Maggett has never traveled outside the United States. She is an Illinois native and spent most of this summer interning at a Boys & Girls Club near campus. Maggett couldn’t pick which part of the itinerary was most exciting, saying simply that she’s looking forward to “a different experience.” Meanwhile, her coach can’t wait to watch her soak it all in. Gillespie said, “What I’m most excited about is just watching our players experience this. … I can’t wait to see them try different things or just put them in different environments.”
Illinois State will bring six newcomers, plus a new offense, to Italy on August 6. To prepare for the trip and install the offense, Gillespie scheduled two-a-day practices and some film sessions. In Italy, Gillespie hopes to find out, “What are the new kids bringing to the table?” In addition, the games will provide a valuable opportunity to “test run” the revamped offense: “It’s not going to look great. But is it going to be something that we really think can work this year?”
Answering that question in August will be a huge advantage for Gillespie and her staff in the preseason. “We are already so far ahead of the game,” she acknowledged. However, when asked about the on-court benefits of taking her team overseas, Gillespie pointed to March, not November. “You’ll often hear teams that have a lot of success come March … credit on one of these trips earlier in the year. So we really hope this is a catalyst for what could happen with this team in March.”
Maggett added that, although the coaching staff hasn’t revealed much about who the Redbirds will play in Italy, she expects tough competition that will prepare the team for the upcoming season. “Once we get over there,” she explained, “it’s like, how [… are we] going to play with each other? … What’s our best? … Playing against their competition , okay, she can do this against them. She can do that again. We can do all that again. It’ll be easier when we get back here.”
Despite lacking the expansive budget of a Power 5 school, Gillespie hopes to take a team abroad every four years. “We’re pretty fiscally sound here,” Gillespie said, crediting Illinois State president Larry Dietz and athletic director Larry Lyons. “So we’re allowed to do some things that other mid-majors … may not be allowed to do.” The trips not only provide an on-court advantage, according to Gillespie, but also are a nice selling point to recruits. “If you play here, you will … get to go on a foreign tour. That’s our promise.”