Kenzie Kostas - Women's Basketball Coach - Florida Atlantic University Athletics

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Florida Atlantic

Kenzie Kostas

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
mkostas@fau.edu

Kenzie Kostas was named as an assistant coach of the Florida Atlantic women’s basketball team in May 2021. She reunites with Coach Sullivan after previously playing for her at Missouri State.

Arriving to Boca Raton from the Show Me State, Kostas spent the previous five seasons at Central Missouri, four as an assistant and one as a graduate assistant. Since becoming a full-time coach, Kostas led the Jennies to a 105-19 record with two Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular season championships, an MIAA Tournament Championship, two NCAA Regional Championships and a National Championship.

Kostas acquired national recognition in 2020 when she was named as one of the WBCA Thirty Under 30, which recognizes the top 30 collegiate coaches under 30 years old across the country.

Central Missouri qualified for the NCAA postseason in each of her four years as an assistant coach. In the 2020-21 season, the Jennies made a trip to the NCAA Final Four after winning the program’s eighth NCAA Regional Championship.

Kostas worked closely with the guards at Central Missouri, including All-Americans Paige Redmond, Morgan Fleming and Megan Skaggs. In addition to her work on the court, Kostas served as the team’s operations coordinator, which included managing travel arrangements, equipment and camps.

Taking on more roles with the Jennies’ program over the years, Kostas was the lead scout for the Ashland Eagles in Central Missouri’s National Championship game. The Jennies would go on to defeat previously undefeated Ashland, 66-52, to help the team win its second National Championship in program history in 2018.

Kostas graduated from Missouri State in 2016, after making over 100 career starts for the Lady Bears over four years. The guard was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection, while being named a First Team All-MVC choice in 2015 and 2016. Kostas completed her collegiate playing career with 1,645 career points, which is the seventh most in program history. She also sits fifth in 3-point attempts (517), sixth in 3-pointers made (184), ninth in steals (212) and 10th in free throws made (345) and attempts (444). At Kostas’ time of graduation, she became one of just three players in MSU history to finish with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 steals, 200 assists and 50 blocks in their career.

As a senior for the Lady Bears, Kostas was ninth in the MVC in scoring, averaging 14 points per game, while dishing out 2.8 assists per game. Her .391 3-point percentage was third in the conference, while her .783 free throw percentage and 1.7 steals per game were sixth. Kostas also had a streak of 34 straight free throws made in 2015-16, which marked the second-longest in MSU history and seventh in Missouri Valley Conference history.

Off the court, Kostas became the third Lady Bear to receive MVC First Team Scholar-Athlete honors. She was also the 2015 MVC Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the MVC Elite 18 Award winner and MSU Co-Outstanding Female Athlete. Kostas made the MVC Honor Roll all four years and was a three-time MVC Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Award recipient.

Kostas graduated from Mt. Vernon High School in Mt. Vernon, Missouri, where she was a two-time All-State selection and won a Missouri Class 3 State Championship as a junior.

A graduate from Missouri State with a degree in elementary education in 2016, Kostas earned her master’s degree in educational technology from Central Missouri.

Kostas and her husband Alex were married in June 2018. They welcomed their first child, Eli, in September 2021.