CLEMSON — The Clemson women’s basketball program has found its new head coach.
The Tigers are hiring Shawn Poppie as their new coach, The Clemson Insider has confirmed from multiple sources.
The Clemson Board of Trustees Compensation Committee called a meeting for Tuesday afternoon to approve the new women’s basketball coach. Poppie’s contract is supposed to be approved at that time.
Poppie spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Chattanooga women’s basketball team, leading the Mocs to back-to-back Southern Conference Tournament titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance in each campaign. Chattanooga had a 48-18 overall record in his two seasons there, including a 28-5 mark in 2023-24.
He came to Chattanooga from Virginia Tech, where he served as an assistant coach starting in 2016. Prior to the 2020-21 season, he was elevated to associate head coach and had a hand in six consecutive winning seasons while helping the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament after a 15-year hiatus.
Prior to Virginia Tech, Poppie was an assistant coach for the Furman Paladins for three seasons and was named Associate Head Coach after his third year. Before his stint at Furman, Poppie spent two seasons at USC Upstate.
Poppie began his career as an assistant coach at Limestone College, where he served as recruiting coordinator. A 2007 graduate of Limestone, he was a two-time Carolinas-Virginia Athletic All-Conference player and graduated as the school’s all-time leader in assists (602) and steals (168) and finished third on the scoring list (1,246). He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
The Crescent City, Illinois native was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in the summer of 2019.
Poppie is now set to take over at Clemson for Amanda Butler, who was let go earlier this month following six seasons during which the Tigers had an 81-106 overall record and 32-73 mark in ACC play.
Clemson finished 12-19 overall and 5-13 in ACC play in 2023-24.
–Photo courtesy William Howard-USA TODAY Sports