Keisha Newell named head coach of Oakland women's basketball

Oakland University has announced the hiring of Keisha Newell as the new head coach for its women's basketball team. Newell comes from Lewis University, where she led the team to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments at the Division II level. Before Newell's appointment, Deanna Richard served as the interim head coach. She took over after Jeff Tungate retired unexpectedly on December 9. Tungate had been with Oakland for 12 years but had to miss much of the past season due to health issues. In the recent season, Oakland had a challenging year, finishing with a record of 9-22. They made it to the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament but lost to Green Bay, the eventual champion. Newell's teams at Lewis had better success. This past season, they achieved a record of 26-4 but were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. In prior seasons, Newell's teams had records of 21-11 and 23-9. Before coaching at Lewis, Newell was the head coach at Roosevelt University. She also has experience as an assistant coach at Loyola-Chicago from 2011 to 2014.