ORLANDO - Erin Horne has been hired as the UCF women's basketball director of operations, head coach Sytia Messer announced on Thursday.
Horne comes to the Knights after serving four seasons at Lipscomb with the women's basketball program from 2019-23, including three seasons as the director of basketball operations and one season as an assistant coach.
During her time at Lipscomb, the Lady Bisons tied the program single-season record (20) for most wins in the division I era and achieved its most regular-season wins in program history in 2022-23. In three seasons, she helped guide the Lady Bisons to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Honor Roll, including the program's highest GPA ranking as the No. 4 team in the nation for the 2021-22 season.
As the director of basketball operations and player development, Horne led the team's professional development in preparing student-athletes for life beyond basketball for the 2022-23 season.
She served as an assistant coach and helped guide the Lady Bisons to key victories against Eastern Illinois, Kennesaw State, and Central Arkansas for the 2021-22 season.
During her tenure at Lipscomb, she was responsible for a plethora of duties within the program, including team operations, team travel, oversight of support staff and managers, and community service and engagement. Additionally, she served as the program's primary liaison within the athletic department, including academics, compliance, facilities and athletics communications.
Prior to Lipscomb, she served from 2017-19 as a graduate assistant for the Mercer women's basketball program. During her time with the Bears, the program went 55-11 and recorded its second straight undefeated Southern Conference Regular season and Conference Championship, which led to the program's second consecutive NCAA tournament berth. While with the Bears, Horne was responsible for a variety of tasks within the program including game film, social media, recruiting mail outs, oversaw the student managers, and assisted the coaching staff with the preparation of scouting reports, recruiting activities, and skill development.
A native of Orlando, Horne spent the summer of 2016 completing an internship with the WNBA's Atlanta Dream, where she performed basketball operations and game operations.
Collegiately, Horne played at Converse College (SC.), where she was a four-year letter winner and became the all-time steals record holder for the Valkyrie women's basketball program.
She also completed an internship with the athletic department at Converse and was selected to take part in the WBCA 15th Annual "So You Want To Be A Coach" program, which took place in conjunction with the WBCA Convention in Dallas during the Final Four.
Horne graduated from Converse College (SC.) in 2017 with a B.A. in business sports management and earned a Master of Education in higher education leadership from Mercer's Tift School of Education in 2019.