Steven Key, a dynamic basketball professional with over two decades of coaching experience, joins the UCF women’s basketball staff as assistant coach, announced by head coach Sytia Messer on Thursday.
Key comes to Orlando after spending six years in Germany as a coach in the European Professional League (Eisbaeren Bremerhaven and Oliver Wurzburg). As head coach for the Eisbaeren, he helped guide the team to a winning percentage of .500 or above in both years. Key spent four seasons at Oliver Wurzburg as an assistant coach (2018-22).
Before his time in Germany, Key spent time in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) where he was assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky along with head coach for the Chicago Sky.
Key’s coaching career began as a Sky assistant in 2006 and 2007. In just his second season, he helped guide the Sky to a 14-20 record as they ended the previous year with just five wins. Following the end of the 2007 season, Key was elevated to head coach and served in that position for three seasons (2008-2010). In his first two seasons, he guided the team to a top-five finish. Throughout his time with the Sky, he coached the 2007 WNBA Rookie of the Year (Arminitie Price) along with four all-rookie team and all-defensive team selections.
A former college point guard at Boston University where he was named the American East Player of the Year in 1990, Key played professionally in the Chinese Basketball Association and throughout Europe. He coached briefly in Germany with Neckar Riesen before returning to the WNBA with the Connecticut Sun.
The Columbia, Maryland, native graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and public relations.