Virginia Commonwealth University Women's Basketball

Kirk Crawford joined the VCU Women's Basketball staff in July 2017 and was named interim head coach on Feb. 2, 2026. Crawford is in his ninth season at VCU in 2025-26 and owns over 30 years of Division I basketball coaching experience as well as WNBA and NBA coaching experience. Crawford previously served as the interim head coach for nine games in 2024-25. At VCU, Crawford works primarily with the Rams' post players and helped in the development of 2019 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year Danielle Hammond. During his five-year tenure, the Rams have earned four postseason berths as well as two Atlantic 10 Championships, one regular season and one tournament. VCU has made one NCAA Tournament appearance and three WNIT bids during his time. Crawford joined VCU after serving as an assistant coach with the Shockers from 2012-17. While at Wichita State, Crawford was responsible for recruiting, player development and defense. He helped lead the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance during the 2012-13 season as the Shockers went on to make three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2013-2015. Crawford also helped lead the program to the Women's National Invitational Tournament after the 2011-12 season. "We are very excited to have Kirk join our coaching staff. He brings a wealth of both collegiate and professional coaching experience and his player development skills will be a great asset to our program. Kirk is truly a teacher of the game who exemplifies coaching with a high level of integrity and proven winning ways," O'Boyle said. Crawford coordinated Wichita State's defense which posted consecutive top-20 finishes nationally in scoring defense. His 2014-15 team finished fourth in the country in scoring defense while his 2013-14 squad finished 18th. "I want to take this opportunity to thank Coach O'Boyle for the chance to join her and her excellent staff at VCU. I look forward to helping continue the VCU tradition and look forward to competing in the Atlantic 10 Conference," Crawford said. In addition, Crawford spent 2010-12 as a volunteer assistant with the NBA's Denver Nuggets. While with the Nuggets, he assisted with player development and opponent scouting. He also worked the 2017 training camp for the WNBA's Chicago Sky doing opponent scouting and player development. During his career, Crawford has also served as an assistant coach at Drake University, the United States Air Force Academy, the University of Southern Mississippi and Providence College. Prior to transitioning to women's basketball, he served on men's basketball staffs as an assistant coach at Portland State University, the University of Portland, Lewis and Clark College and Southern Utah University. Crawford was a two-sport athlete at Western State College (Colo.) and earned a bachelor's degree in physical education. He was a multi-year letter winner in both basketball and baseball and played baseball professionally in the Oakland A's minor league organization.

Brittany Parked joined VCU Women's Basketball in May 2022 as an assistant coach. Parker holds over a decade of Division I coaching experience and had spent the past three seasons at Marist prior to joining the Rams. Parker has also served as an assistant coach at College of Charleston, Western Kentucky, Bowling Green, Morehead State, Niagara and Fayetteville State during her career.   While at Marist, Parker helped the Red Foxes to MAAC Regular Season Championships in both 2020 and 2021 as well as the 2021 MAAC Tournament Championship and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.   Prior to Marist, she spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant with Charleston and was heavily involved in player development with the guards and helped coach three all-conference selections.   Parker served as an assistant at Western Kentucky from 2016-18, helping the Hilltoppers win the 2017 C-USA Regular Season and Tournament Championships. WKU earned a bid to the 2017 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. Parker was at Morehead State from 2014-16 and was at Niagara from 2011-14. She also spent two years at Division II Fayetteville State where she helped the team to the 2010 CIAA Championship and a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Parker is a graduate of Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, N.C. where she was a four-year letter winner.  

Nsiah-Amoako joined VCU in the fall of 2022. He was instrumental in VCU’s 2023-24 campaign as the program went 26-6 and reached the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT).   The Rams set a program record for regular season wins in 2023-24 with 26 and earned the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship after posting a 15-3 conference record. VCU also posted the largest year-over-year improvement in NCAA history at 17.5 games.   Nsiah coached Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Sarah Te-Biasu, VCU’s first conference player of the year since 2003-04. Te-Biasu led the Rams with 15.6 points per game during the regular season and averaged 17.3 points per game in conference play. Nsiah came to VCU from UNCG where he oversaw all aspects of the program’s film and video. He assisted coaches with scouting and personnel reports as well as cutting an analyzing film. He also assisted the program with official and unofficial visits of prospective student-athletes.   Prior to working with UNCG Women’s Basketball, he served as a graudate assistant for UNCG’s Men’s Basketball program. The program captured the 2021 SoCon Regular Season and Tournament Championship as well as earned the league’s bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Nsiah-Amoako assisted with drills in practice as well as shooting and skill work. He also assisted the Director of Operations in helping coordinate the program’s travel and meals.   Prior to UNCG, he work with Georgia State’s Men’s Basketball team as a student assistant. He helped set up practice and game equipment, pack travel bags, assisted practice squad and walk-ons with skill development and took part in official and unofficial visits.   Nsiah-Amoako graduated from Georgia State in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in business. He completed a master’s in sports administration from Georgia State in 2019 and a master’s from UNCG in gerontology in 2021.  

Taya Robinson was named as an assistant coach in July of 2025. Robinson, a VCU alumnus, also served as the program's Director of Player Culture in 2023. Robinson, one of the program’s most decorated players and its third all-time leading scorer, returns to Richmond after a successful professional career in some of Europe’s top leagues. She most recently playing for ASC Sepsi SIC Sfantu Gheorghe in Romania.  Robinson led VCU to the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship and an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. She was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 First Team selection and a four-time All-Atlantic 10 Defensive Team selection. She was the 2021 A-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player. She also led VCU to the program’s first conference regular season title in 2018-19. Robinson finished her career with 1,673 points and is the program’s all-time leader in games played. She is the only player in VCU history with 1,600 points, 600 rebounds, 250 assists, 150 steals and 70 blocks. During her career, VCU reached three consecutive A-10 Championship games and earned four postseason berths including three WNIT berths. She ranks in the top 10 in VCU all-time in 3-pointers made, 3-point percentage, free throws made, career blocks, career steals and career rebounds. She ranked 11th all-time at VCU in assists upon graduation. Robinson led ASC Sepsi to win the 2025 Romanian Cup and played in the 2024-25 Eurocup where she averaged 17.7 points and 5.8 rebounds. Robinson also played professionally in Bulgaria (Montana) and Greece (Panathlitikos SF Skyeon).    

Sam Brenner was hired as the VCU Women's Basketball Director of Operations in May of 2023.   Brenner joined VCU after serving as an assistant coach at Brown for the past two seasons. Prior to Brown, Brenner was also the associate head coach at Division II UT-Permian Basin and an assistant coach at Franklin Pierce.   At Brown, Brenner was responsible for scouting opponents, assisting in player development, overseeing summer camps and coordinating the program’s film operations. The team led the Ivy League in steals (10.4) and blocks (4.1) this past season.   Prior to Brown, she served at UT-Permian Basin from 2018-21. As associate head coach, she primarily worked with the program’s post players. In addition to her coaching duties at UT-Permian Basin, Brenner also oversaw the program’s operations including travel, meals, gear distribution and camp scheduling while serving as the campus and community liaison.   At Franklin Pierce, where she served as an assistant coach from 2016-18, she worked with post players in addition to assisting with recruiting, operations, scouting, academic advising and community service.   As a student-athlete, Brenner played at Vermont and Adelphi. She started 53 games at Adelphi, helping lead the program to a Northeast 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance as well as a No. 3 ranking nationally. She began her career at Vermont where she appeared in 32 games.   Brenner graduated from Adelphi with a degree in Sport Management and earned her M.B.A. at Franklin Pierce with a concentration in Sport Management.        

Samantha Smith joined VCU in August 2022 as the Director of Student-Athlete Development. Smith, a VCU alumnae, joined the Rams after most recently working for Select Events. With Select Events, Smith served as an administrative associate and was responsible for registering teams, creating invoices, collecting outstanding payments through LeagueApps and maintaining all registration info. Smith assisted with execution of 27 youth basketball events and assisted with planning and logistics of 35 total non-live and NCAA live period events including Girls’ Under Armour Association and Select 40 events. Prior to working with Select Events, Smith worked for All-Academic Basketball and Zero Gravity where she scouted various DII and DIII high-academic prospects for 11 showcases to promote exposure through drills, 3 vs. 3 and live scrimmages. Smith also managed logistics and expansion into the girls’ market and coordinated top high-academic DII and DIII women's coaches to attend showcases. She also assisted with tournament operations across New England that have hosted up to 950 teams by site directing. Smith worked as a graduate assistant at VCU in 2019-20 with Sports Operations and assisted with management of 10 VCU athletic programs and all in-game operations including postseason play. Those programs included VCU Field Hockey, Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Basketball, Baseball, Women's Lacrosse, Volleyball and Men's and Women's Tennis. Smith oversaw and scheduled a group of 20 undergraduate work-study students, as well as local youth assisting at games. Smith is a graduate of James Madison University with a bachelor's degree in Sports and Recreational Management and completed her master's degree in VCU's Center for Sport Leadership.  

Alexa Gutchess was named VCU Women's Basketball's video coordinator in July 2024.   Gutchess joined VCU after serving as the assistant video coordinator at Maryland under Brenda Frese.   At Maryland, Gutchess was responsible for live capturing and coding all practices and games. Gutchess provided advance scouting reports for upcoming opponents, maintained and archived all video content from practices and games and organized photo and video shoots for recruiting visits.   Prior to working at Maryland, Gutchess worked as a basketball video scout at Sports Info Solutions where she collected data on amateur and professional basketball games. Gutchess also conducted detailed evaluations of players as well as recording data regarding impact plays and shots, finishing and off-ball movement.   Gutchess was a student manager at Maryland for three years as an undergraduate. Gutchess earned her bachelor's degree from Maryland in criminology and criminal justice. She holds a master's degree from Boston College in Sports Administration.