New Alabama women’s basketball coach Pauline Love credits late mentor for coaching career

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) – Pauline Love, the new head coach of the Alabama women’s basketball team, says her late college coach, Joye Lee-McNelis, is the reason she got into coaching.

Love played for Lee-McNelis at Southern Miss, describing her as a second mother. Lee-McNelis passed away last summer after a long battle with breast cancer.

A relationship that changed her path

Love said she once told Lee-McNelis she would never go into coaching, a conversation the two laughed about often.

“I used to tell her all the time, I would never do this. I would never put up with somebody like me or I would never work for somebody like her. I was like coach, you’re crazy. We used to laugh about it all the time and she was like you’ll see one day, you’ll see,” Love said.

Love had planned to work in the tech industry. Instead, she has spent 15 years in coaching.

“She pretty much paved the way for me. There’s no way I’d be sitting here if it wasn’t for her,” Love said.

High expectations at Alabama

Love returns to Tuscaloosa after previously serving as an assistant at Alabama. She was introduced as head coach in April, and was brought to tears when she mentioned Lee-McNelis during that introduction.

Her goals for the program are clear.

“I’m going to have a passion about it. I want to bring a Final Four to the University of Alabama and make Tuscaloosa proud,” Love said.

This year’s roster includes Spring Garden’s Ace Austin, back for her sophomore season.

Love said she wants her players to know that difficult times are part of the process.

“I can say for them, I’ve been there. I’ve done it. Just learn how to figure out and fight through hard things. You gotta do something hard and fight through it and I promise you it’s rewarding at the end of it,” Love said.

Love said she also wants to be a source of support for her players off the court, the same way Lee-McNelis was for her.

“I know we always get caught up in the money part of it, but I got a group of girls that doesn’t care about that. They want to care about making the fans happy and giving them something good to watch,” Love said.

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