TAMPA, Fla. — For some sporting the Baylor green and gold, the Final Four in Tampa is an opportunity.
And it goes well beyond basketball.
Sytia Messer is finishing up her sixth season with the Lady Bears, serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator and assistant coach. Previously, Messer was a head coach at Tennessee Tech for three years and made a quick stop at Georgia Tech before moving to Waco.
“Everybody in life has different paths,” Messer said. “And I’m very proud of the things that I’ve done as a coach. To be a part of this is like icing on the cake.”
For Messer, the opportunity to be one of seven women on a nine-coach staff is one she describes as a dream.
It’s a dream which dates back to Messer’s high school days when her now-boss, Kim Mulkey, recruited her.
“We’ve kept a relationship ever since,” Messer said.
Another woman filling in a key role for Baylor as it heads into the Final Four has spent most of her life in Waco.
Kaylin Rice is BU’s Assistant Director of Operations, but is currently filling in on the bench while Toyelle Wilson is out on maternity leave.
“It all started when I was an undergrad student here at Baylor,” Rice said. “I was a manager all four years of undergrad. So, I did everything from laundry to setting up pads and cones for practice drills.”
That began in the Fall of 2011. Her freshman year, Baylor complete a 40-0 season, winning a national championship.
Seven years later, she’s in her first as a coach.
“I think it gives girls a goal,” Rice said. “It’s something to look forward to. I think they see how much fun our girls have, we’re not done yet.”
For young girls growing up with basketball dreams, the Women’s Final Four is so much more than the nation’s three biggest basketball games of the year. It can become a dream.
Which is why everyone who holds the sport so dearly wants to do their part to continue inspiring the next generation of young women’s basketball stars.
“Believe in your dream,” Messer said. “If it’s what you want, put in the work and make it happen.”