Illinois College Women's Basketball

The 2025-26 campaign will be Jennifer McCormick’s 10th season as the head coach of the women's basketball program at Illinois College. Along with her women’s basketball duties, McCormick is the advisor of the IC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).  During her career as a head coach, McCormick has recorded a total of 128 wins, making her the second-winningest coach in program history. Under her leadership, the Lady Blues have appeared in three Midwest Conference Tournaments. McCormick has guided multiple Lady Blues to all-conference honors, including Maya Smith, Ashlyn Wightman, Lilly Pepper, Kendra Bass, Grace Yaunches, Brielle Greenleaf, and Jayln Patterson.  Before taking over on the Hilltop, McCormick was the head coach at Beloit College. During her tenure in Beloit, the Buccaneers won 33 games, and the 2015-16 squad recorded the most wins by the program in six seasons. Additionally, McCormick oversaw the development of 2015-16 MWC Player of the Year Lana Wieseman, who would become the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,639 points while earning first-team all-region and first-team all-conference honors, and recruited/coached Shelby Kline, who would become the MWC Player of the Year in 2019. McCormick's initial college coaching experience began during the 2009-10 season when she served as an assistant at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. For two seasons, McCormick was a full-time assistant for the Duhawks as well as a strength and conditioning coach. During her time in the Key City, Loras made two Iowa Conference tournament semifinal appearances. McCormick is a native of Arthur, Illinois, and graduated from Arthur High School in 2000. She went on to earn four letters in basketball for the Elmhurst College basketball team. As a junior and senior, she was a co-captain for the Bluejays. McCormick graduated with honors, earning a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry from Elmhurst in 2004. McCormick and her husband, Kyle, reside in Chatham with their son, Ryker.

The 2026-27 season will be the third for Bruce Shafer as the head coach of the Illinois College Clay Target program. The IC program saw its continued upward trajectory under Shafer’s guidance in 2025-26. IC finished ninth in the nation at the USA Clay Target National Championships, highlighted by Morgan Tracey’s 10th-place finish in the female gold high gun category. IC finished second in the conference standings in skeet and third in trap and sporting clays. A record six team members earned all-conference honors from the USA Clay Target League.  The 2024-25 season was also a banner year for IC. The squad was led by Jack Flatley and Ann Feldhake. Flatley led the IC men with a 40th-place showing in the Male Gold Category at the National Championships, while Feldhake was fifth in the Female Gold Category. IC finished the fall portion of the season in fourth place in the standings of the Class 1A group of the USA Clay Target League. IC returned in the spring and also finished fourth in the conference standings. Flatley and Feldhake, who finished the season as the conference’s top-scoring female, both earned All-Conference honors.

Illinois College named Kish Chandler its new assistant women's basketball coach, it was announced on June 18th by Lady Blues’ Head Coach Jen McCormick. "We are thrilled to welcome Kish to our basketball family,” McCormick said. “From the moment we met her, it was clear that she brings a contagious positive energy, a genuine passion for student-athlete development, and a strong commitment to building meaningful relationships. Her ability to connect with our players, understand their experiences, and support them both on and off the court will make an immediate impact on our program. Kish will help create an environment where our student-athletes can thrive and we are excited for the leadership she will bring to our team." Chandler comes to the Hilltop after spending last season on the women’s basketball staff at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio. In her role with the Gray Wolves, she helped the program to a 22-8 record that included a conference title and an appearance in the NAIA national tournament. She worked on practice planning, player development and conditioning while assisting in the teaching of offensive systems and defensive rotations through drills and live reps.  Along with her duties at Lourdes, Chandler was an assistant coach for Maumee Valley Country Day High School in Toledo and served as the head coach of Toledo’s Next Play AAU 6th and 7th grade girls’ team. Before venturing to Ohio, Chandler was the graduate assistant at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas where she served as the head coach of the Flying Queens JV team and handled travel, game film, and day-to-day operations. A native of Edmond, Oklahoma, Chandler is a 2022 graduate of Berry College in Rome, Georgia with a degree in biochemistry and was a member of the women’s basketball team. Chandler also holds a master’s degree in leadership from Lourdes.  

Former Illinois College women’s basketball player Keida Nichols returned to the program as an assistant coach in June, 2024. “We are very excited to have Keida join our coaching staff.  As a player, she was a remarkable athlete, a strong leader, and had a great basketball IQ,” McCormick said. “Because of her knowledge of the game and her ability to connect with others, she will be a tremendous asset to our program in this new role. There is always something special about coaching with a former player, and I am excited to have the opportunity to do that with her.” “Throughout my athletic career, I've been fortunate to have had incredible coaches, both on the court and the track. This continued when I came to IC, and I am very grateful and blessed to have had such an amazing time competing here. I am super excited to be back at IC and be a part of this amazing staff. My goal is to emulate the coaching excellence that has shaped me into the person I am today,” Nichols said. A three-year member of the Lady Blues, Nichols appeared in 61 games in her career on the Hilltop. She was awarded the team’s Defensive Player of the Year after the 2020-21 season. In her career with the Lady Blues, she averaged 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while collecting 89 steals and recording 23 blocked shots. A dual-sport standout, Nichols was also a two-time all-conference honoree in track and field. The native of Mahomet, Ill., has continued her connection with IC as she also serves as a TRIO Academic Coach and is the Coordinator for Student Engagement.