HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025!
Katie Pate is a 1997 graduate of Coker and former star player and later Head Coach of the Coker Women’s Basketball Team. As a player, Pate was a four-year member of the Cobra Women’s Basketball Team, a first team all-conference selection and team captain. She helped lead the Cobras to a 19-win season in 1997-98 where they averaged a record 73.2 points per game on offense, a record 65.1 points on defense, and finished the year as CVAC conference tournament runner-up. She was named to the All-Time Coker Women’s Basketball Team. She was a member of the Coker Dean’s List, the Carolina-Virginia’s Athletic Conference Presidential Honor Roll and the Move Without the Ball Leadership Council. After graduating from Coker, Pate began a very successful coaching and college athletic administration career. She began as an Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at USC Upstate led by Coker alum and Head Coach Gene Hill from 1999-2001. She then returned to Coker where she was the Head Coach and Senior Woman Administrator from 2001-2005. Pate led the Cobras to a 19-win season and a runner-up finish at the CVAC Championship in 2003-04. Pate moved on to Belmont Abbey College as Head Women’s Basketball Coach and Senior Woman Administrator from 2005-07. She left the coaching ranks for a short time to return to USC Upstate as the Director of Athletics Marketing and Promotions from 2007-09. During the 2009-10 season, Pate returned to the court as the Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Wingate University. From 2010-2017 she served as Associate Head Coach and later Head Coach for Lenoir-Rhyne University. There, she was a part of the team that won the SAC Regular Season Championship and as the #1 seed in the NCAA Southeast Region, hosted the tournament regional. From Lenoir-Rhyne, Pate made the move to Division I Marshall University as the Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach and assumed the same position at Georgia State University for the 2018-19 season. She returned to college athletics administration as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations and Senior Woman Administrator at Longwood University from 2019-21. She then made her way to Appalachian State University as the Associate Athletics Director for Development and Major Gifts from 2021-24. Pate now serves as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Development at A10 member George Mason University, overseeing all fundraising efforts and NIL integration strategies for the Patriots. She is active on several industry speaker circuits including the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), Women Leaders in College Sports and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). She also serves as a mentor to many young professionals and coaches. Pate holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Coker, as well as a Master of Science in Business Administration from Webster University. Pate’s sister, Kristi (Hanson) Brannon also graduated from Coker.