You sit back and chat with Kerry
Phayre about basketball and discover several things.
First, you find out that this lady knows the game . . . all the x's and o's . . . all the things you'd see on a scribbled blackboard at court side . . .
Second, you find out that she knows how to motivate . . . motivating young female student-athletes to make a commitment to many things . . . at ages 19-22 that is not always easy . . . a commitment to winning . . . a commitment to being the best possible person, student and athlete all wrapped up in one tidy, and sometimes all-too-perfect, package . . .
Third, you find out that winning is the priority . . . a mind set that has to be in place 724 . . . seven days a week, 24 hours a day . . . winning is habit forming . . . winning as one former somewhat famous football coach said 'is the only thing.'
Oh yeah, there are parameters set forth . . . like the team grade point average of 3.37 . . . and we'll bet that the national list of teams doesn't have many ahead of the Greyhounds . . . like the team commitment to the community . . . in volunteer programs . . . etc.
So, in July of 1996 Kerry Phayre came the full circle . . . back to New England to assume command of the Assumption College women's basketball program.
The Greyhounds have been a team always on the verge of something good . . . they have had a host of outstanding individual performers . . . now it was time to take it to the next level . . . a play-off level . . .
Phayre spent five years as head coach at Columbia University and coached three all-Ivy League players during her tenure. She also served as Associate Physical Education Director at the University.
Before coaching at Columbia, she served as an assistant coach at Boston College (1986-91) for five years, at St. John's University (1984-86) for two years and at the University of Vermont (1983-84) for one year.
One of Rhode Island's outstanding female basketball players while at Saint Xavier Academy (Providence, RI), she led her team to three state tournament titles and four straight appearances in the final under Coach Joe Conley. She finished her career with 1,174 points and an incredible 76-4 overall won-loss mark and earned all-Rhode Island by the Providence Journal in her final two years.
She began her collegiate playing career at Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT) (1979-80) and then transferred to Division I Providence College. As a standout point guard for the Friars, Phayre scored 1,269 points with 432 assists and twice served as team captain.
In 1982, she was a finalist for the Margaret Wade Trophy, given to the nation's Player-of-the-Year, and was a Kodak District all-America. The Friars were 66-27 during her playing career. She still holds the individual record for best field goal percentage in a game making all 10 of her attempts vs. Manhattan (12/5/82). She earned first District all-America in Providence history and earned all-Big East honors.
In her first year with the Greyhounds she coached the single most improved team in the region . . . the team won seven more games in 1996-97 that it did the previous year . . . with three freshmen and three sophomores playing significant roles. In her second year, she lost her top player and then her captain to ACL injuries and still finished .500 (14-14) and ended fourth in the conference playoffs. Of late, the Hounds have earned the program's first two N.C.A.A. regional berths.
A native of Cranston, Rhode Island, Phayre is a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (W.B.C.A.) and is one of the leading clinicians in the Northeast.
Single, she resides in Worcester.