From the ground up: How Semeka Randall Lay is building confidence, success at Winthrop

There’s a lot to hear at a Winthrop women’s basketball game: balls thump-thumping on the court, tunes from the pep band, fans screeching their support, the officials’ shrill whistles.

One sound — one voice — rises above it all, in times of chaos and in times of serenity.

Winthrop women’s basketball head coach Semeka Randall Lay, who spends most of her time during the game pacing the coaching the box, uses that voice to encourage and instruct her players.

She has a passion, not only to lead the team to wins, but also to help her players reach their full potential.

“What we’ve been trying to do here, especially lately, is give them the opportunity to get up and down the court and try to figure some things out,” Randall Lay said. “There’s a lot of talent, but there’s a lot of talking. What I mean by that is, we have to lead by our actions, like getting them to finish those games where we keep ending up short. So we’re trying to feed them that much information or showing them via film.”

Winthrop (10-12) is having one of its better years in recent memory. The team hit double-digit wins for the first time since Randall Lay first took the helm on an interim basis for the 2020-21 season, and is two wins away from posting its highest win total in a season since the 2014-15 season.

That marks a major turnaround for the Eagles, who, a year ago, were so riddled with injuries that they often played with the conference-minimum of seven players.

Uplifting, inspiring Winthrop basketball

Randall Lay has a storied history in basketball, and she aims to use that experience to continue to uplift Winthrop’s program.

“I’m just trying to fight like crazy to give back all the knowledge that I have in trying to get student-athletes to fight through changing the narrative of Winthrop University has been like for the past 10 years,” Randall Lay said. “And it’s been hard, because there’s been a lot of changes, and you hope that these athletes that I have currently can be the start of that process. If it does happen, great, but they’re moving the needle even more.”

That message has resonated with the team.

Leonor Paisana is Winthrop’s longest-tenured player, now in her third year with the Eagles. The junior guard from Lisbon, Portugal, said she views Randall Lay as a mother figure, especially living so far from home.

With eleven newcomers on the roster, it takes a strong effort from the players, as well, to get everyone on the same page, but Paisana said the energy Randall Lay brings manifests itself in every player on the court.

“She means a lot to this program,” Paisana said. “This program has been growing for the past three years. I know the last two years, we didn’t show what we wanted, but I think this year, we’re showing a difference. And I think (Randall Lay) is bringing it out of our personalities as players and bringing new people in who want to be in here and who want to be in this community. I think she’s a big factor in that, and she’s really passionate about it. She’s the one who’s screaming at us at practice and yelling at us for making all the same mistakes, but if it wasn’t her, and if she didn’t care about this, no one would. And I think she’s the main reason we’re getting these results.”

Moving the Eagles forward

Winthrop athletic director Chuck Rey has full confidence in Randall Lay’s vision for the program.

They coached together at Winthrop before Rey became the athletic director in 2022, and he values not only Randall Lay’s experience, but the way she carries herself.

“She was somebody who I could rely on as a coach,” Rey said. “Somebody that was my confidant, somebody who I was able to bounce ideas off of and somebody I was able to grow with as a coach.

“She’s always had the best integrity, and she always has the highest of values and morals, and some of the things I appreciate about her is just how real she is, how honest she is and just tells you the way it is,” Rey added. “Straightforward. There’s no sugarcoating things with her, and you know that what you’re getting is the honest absolute truth. Sometimes, it’s hard to hear that, but a lot of times, you know it’s coming from the heart, and she means the best.”

Randall Lay’s passion may be a new spark to Winthrop, but she has carried that fire with her everywhere in her basketball journey, from her childhood basketball court in Cleveland, to her time as a professional basketball player, to now as a head coach.

Randall Lay talked with The Herald about her basketball background, and the many memories that molded her into the coach she is now. The answers have been edited for length.

Early beginnings

Q: Your basketball journey starts in Cleveland, Ohio. What was it that first drew you to the game that made you fall in love with it?

A: What made me fall in love with the game of basketball was at the age of six, I was watching our neighbors play basketball. They had a setup where they had three girls, and I used to play with the girls all the time, but I would see their two brothers and all their cousins, everyone’s in the backyard. Even some of the neighbors as well. I was enamored by what they were doing versus what we were doing. So one day, I got the courage to ask if I could participate, and they were like, ‘If you’re going to participate, you have to take whatever comes with it.’ So that was my start of me being intrigued by the game.

Q: Was it hard for you to find other girls to play with during your childhood before you got to high school?

A: We had a Boys & Girls Club, and say from six to middle school, that’s where I had to play basketball. But they didn’t used to give us any gym time, like they separated the boys and the girls. So I had to ask the director, ‘Is it okay if I go in the gym and play with the guys?’ So from six to middle school, I would play with them, and then when I got to middle school, I tried out for our middle school team.

And funny story with that is, my middle school coach was the first coach to kick me out of practice because he knew I was good. And I knew I was good. I had the attitude, I’m a firecracker. He kicked me out, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe he kicked me out.’ I remember sitting outside that door because I was like, ‘well, how am I going to get home?’ I’ve walked home numerous times, but I had to apologize to my coach. And then I asked for a ride.

When I got to high school, my starting five all went Power Five. They all went to big time schools. So the basketball got better and better as I went along. I know I’m older, but I wasn’t in that era where it wasn’t competitive. I had a teammate go to Vanderbilt. I had one go to Penn State. They all went to really, really great schools.

Q: Going to a high school with so much good talent, did it take any time for you to adjust?

A: Absolutely not, no. What I think got me ready for that is just all those times playing with older guys. Because mostly, in our neighborhood, if I’m 13, I’m playing against 15 to 22 year olds. So going to play against other girls that are already in high school that’s 15 to 18 years old. I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ I had no fear, and that’s the one thing that my teammates loved about me. That played to my advantage.

Q: You were an All-American in your senior season of high school. Of course, colleges are coming at you. Did they approach or recognize you early on? What was that process like?

A: They knew about me early on. College coaches could come and watch you play in open gym, so they actually were coming to recruit my teammates, but I wasn’t in high school. I was just going to practice with the high school team. I was in eighth grade actually. Pat Summitt came to the gym and saw me when I was in eighth grade, and she asked my high school coach at the time, whose name was Pat, ‘Who’s that little one right there?’ And he was like, ‘Well, you need to watch her because you’re going to be recruiting her soon.’

The rule was that they couldn’t contact me, but I could contact them. So I would call them in a collect call, and I probably called Pat three, four times a week, and that’s how we developed a relationship. If I wasn’t talking to her three, four times a week, I was talking to the other members (of her staff) three, four times a week. That’s how that started.

Everybody was recruiting me in the country, but when it came down to my senior year, I’m trying to figure out where I’m going. I started the process with five schools. Those schools were Penn State, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and UConn. And when it was time to go on the visits, because my academics wasn’t in the space it needed to be, I ended having to drop all but two schools because I needed to take the SAT and ACT several times. Tennessee and UConn became the two schools I wanted to go to because I knew I could help them win a national championship right away.

Q: Who were some of your inspirations in playing basketball?

A: I would say inspiration is obviously my neighbors: the Burges. That’s who taught me the game.

Then other people that came along like my middle school coach, high school coach, and obviously Pat. But where I fell in love and who I tried to mimic my game from was Clyde Drexler because I thought I could glide in the air. And then Charles Barkley because I was a bully, and I liked beating the crap out of people. So if I was building me, those were the people I tried to mimic my game after.

Playing at Tennessee

Q: Talk about your time at Tennessee (from 1998-2000).

A: I came in when Tennessee had already won back-to-back (championships) and then we came in and went 39-0. In the following year, my sophomore year, we didn’t get out of the Elite Eight, and I got injured, so that hindered us from probably winning that along with other factors.

And then my junior year, probably one of the greatest college stories ever, we played UConn three times that year. We played them at home and we played them away. At home, they beat us. Away, we beat them, but in the midst of that game, (UConn forward Svetlana) Abrosimova, her and I got into a tussle. I wouldn’t release the ball, she wouldn’t release the ball. I always say international players tend to be a little dramatic, so it looked like I body slammed her. And so, I inherited the name ‘Boo’, and it’s funny because they talk about (South Carolina women’s head coach) Dawn (Staley) being booed by LSU, I’m the original ‘Boo’.

Every time I touched the ball, (the UConn fans) booed me. So if I had it for a second, ‘boo’. If I had it for ten seconds, ‘boooooo’. The whole game. In front of 20,000-plus. Sold-out arena. That game went down to a last second shot. We ran a play, and the play wasn’t intended for me, but I wanted to beat the mess out of (UConn women’s head coach) Geno (Auriemma) because of our relationship. Now, that relationship wasn’t a good relationship in how it ended because I picked Tennessee over UConn, and so he said some choice words, and I’ve been waiting for this moment.

I reject the ball screen. Sue Bird fouls me, and I step up and hit the jump shot. And I turn to him and I salute him and we win the game. They had a chance with a shot at the end, but I saluted him like that’s it. But the crazy thing, we ended up playing in the championship game. Both UConn and Tennessee arrive in a championship game. UConn won, but I always say there’s a ‘but’ to it. Our starting point guard got hurt to where she couldn’t even play two hours before the game. So (UConn) ended up winning, I would never take that away from them, but we didn’t have our squad, but injuries are a part of the game, and they ended up winning, so that’s the story.

Q: I was watching highlights of that game where Tennessee beat UConn in 2000. Not only did you hit the game-winning shot, but you also took a charge that led to you making the go-ahead shot on the previous possession. How did that moment feel?

A: Man, it felt great sticking it to (Auriemma). I will not tell you what he said to me when I had to call and tell him that I was going to pick Tennessee over UConn. One thing I loved about my high school coach, he always said, ‘Hey, when you get in a relationship, you have to learn how to deliver bad news. Sometimes, you may not like what they have to say, but I’m not going to be say, ‘Hey Geno, Semeka’s decided to go to another school, but she really appreciates it.’’ He made me get on the phone.

I was kind of nervous, but my ego said, ‘I can do this.’ When I got on the phone, I said, ‘Hey, I really appreciate you recruiting me, but I’m going to go with Tennessee,’ and he just wailed on me and hung the phone up. That (game-winning shot) was everything. Anytime we played them, I had a little extra juice in my tank. I just wanted to annihilate him in any way I can. Just great memories.

Q: It was a great run during your time at Tennessee. Two national championship appearances and a perfect season. Aside from ‘Boo’, you were also one of the ‘Three Meeks’ with Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings. And of course, you were playing for Pat Summitt. What was your career like at Tennessee as far as being a player and learning?

A: It just builds you as a human being. The basketball aspect of it, what I loved about the team so much was that we just loved competing, and we loved basketball, and we loved to hoop. We didn’t take things personal, we just knew that we enjoyed practice more than games because practice lasted longer, and we could run it back or play another game. We were just so full of energy.

The respect we had for one another was unique. I don’t know if you see that consistently in today’s world just because of how things are different, but my love and passion for my sisters will never go away. Even now, I spoke with Chamique yesterday and saw Tamika a month or so ago. Teresa Geter came to our gym last home game. She played on the national championship team with me, so that bond that we have for one another is unbelievable. Pat taught us so much to help prepare us for life with representing more than yourself or change is a must or handle failure like you would handle success. We have all these things she was building in and making in us as young women.

Professional journey

Q: You got the chance to play professionally. You were selected with the first pick of the second round in the 2001 WNBA Draft. What was draft night like?

A: Stressful. Because I was projected to go first-round, but I didn’t go in the first round. How they did it was they only invited the first-rounders to New York, well I didn’t get invited. That’s when I knew I was a little nervous, but my agent said, ‘no, no, no, you’re going to go first round. So-and-so wants you. They were naming these teams. I was sitting around, and no Semeka Randall came up on that board.

I was in there boo-hoo crying in front of my friends and family because we had rented a restaurant out, and we’re waiting to hear and they do the first round on TV, and then the second round, you have to log-in to figure out where you are or listen to it on the radio and what not. And so, while I was boo-hoo crying, my name was called. I totally missed the whole moment, because I was like, ‘I’m not good enough, and I don’t know what to do to prove myself.’ (Imitating draft host) Second round, first pick: Semeka Randall. (My family said), ‘Meek, you’re going to Seattle. You’re the first pick of the second round.’ And I was like, ‘are you serious?’ I was all excited, but then we had a good time, partied.

I was nervous because it was my first time going out to the West Coast and going so far away from home. It was nerve wracking. When I got out there, I was a little nervous, but it was a cool experience. I think it was their second year going in. They drafted Lauren Jackson in the first round, I got to play with her. She’s a really dope player.

I walk into the gym on my first day of practice, and who else? I bump into Gary Payton. And he was like, ‘Hey, are you Glove No. 2?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m Glove No. 2.’ It was this Sports Illustrated thing where they got my hands, and he was called The Glove. But I was like, ‘I’m the Glove No. 2.’ So he said, ‘2.0, what’s up?’ We played one-on-one, and it was dope. He waxed me. He was like, ‘How are you going to be The Glove and you can’t guard me?’ I had a great experience out there. At the time, Howard Schultz was the owner of Starbucks, and he was the owner of the team, so I got to meet some really intriguing people, and then I just had great teammates that I enjoyed playing with.

Transition into coaching

Q: During your final season in the WNBA, you picked up your first coaching gig. Was coaching always the goal for you or was it just something you’re trying out?

A: My mindset was ‘I’ll just try it out.’ My first job was at Cleveland State (as an assistant), and I was allowed to coach and keep playing (for the San Antonio Stars). It was easy. I don’t have to go overseas. Don’t have to worry about all that. I can be right at home and still get my workouts in and try this thing out. I did that, and I enjoyed it, but I felt there was still some more basketball in me, so I went and played another year a year after that, and that’s when I transitioned.

I actually had a contract on the table to go back to Israel. The guy who told me about the Cleveland State job, who was my mentor Al Brown, said, ‘Hey, you should come to Michigan State with me. This team can be in a national championship. They can win a championship this year.’ And I was like, ‘Michigan State? Get out of here. They’re not anybody. It’s Tennessee and UConn, the big dogs.’ And he was like, ‘No, this is a special team.’

And I thought about it, knowing I had this contract in the back of my head like I could still get my hoop game on. But something was telling me to try this out. But when I had to do that, I had to step away from basketball, so I ended up retiring and getting right into coaching. And I’ll be, I’m coaching in the national championship game in my second year of coaching. It was pretty cool to watch a group of unknowns go in and do something so dynamic and get to the championship game. We didn’t win it, but it was probably my best moment. I always say it’s better than my national championship, because we were built. It was 12 All-Americans on one team. I won’t say it was easy, but your odds of doing that is more about managing personalities and people. That’s pretty dope. But then to get in a situation where there is no All-Americans, and there’s one player who ended up going on and doing really well and actually won a WNBA championship in Kristin Haynie, but she was okay until she came into her own. And we beat Tennessee to get to the championship game. We were down by 16 points and we back out of halftime and we beat Tennessee. I can’t write the story any better than that.

Q: What was it like to go against your alma mater in the national semifinals?

A: All I kept doing was looking down like, ‘Is (Pat) going to call timeout? Oh my God, what is going on?’ I was torn. I obviously wanted Michigan State to win, but not my Lady Vols. We don’t play like this. The story at the time was Shyra Ely was on Tennessee, and it was the Indiana girl back at home playing in Indianapolis in the national championship. The storyline was she was supposed to win, and she didn’t come out and perform. She didn’t do nothing, so now I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we’re about to win.’ Next thing you know, the buzzer sounded. And I’m like, ‘They did it.’

Q: Getting into coaching after playing at Tennessee, of course you had a great relationship with Pat Summitt. Were you able to glean any advice from her at all or did she offer any insight into your journey?

A: I don’t think I asked enough. At the time, too, Pat ended up getting that dementia. I stayed locked in always, watching Tennessee, and I knew something was wrong because in certain games, I knew that was not Coach calling certain plays or how the delay was. When I would call her, I would notice things were a little different, so I wish I would’ve spent a little bit more time before all that stuff hit because I know she would’ve helped me in my coaching career.

But I just think, like any young person, you think you know all the answers when you don’t. I missed out on those opportunities to really sit up under her umbrella and just pick her brain about a lot of stuff. My mentor, Al Brown, I spent a lot of time with him, or another assistant who worked at Tennessee in Mickie DeMoss, we talked a lot. In fact, when I got my first head coaching job, I had called her to ask about a couple of assistant coaches who I should hire, or how they’re always saying, ‘Hey Meek, congratulations on the new job but good luck on hiring because of the dynamic.’ When you’re trying to build something, you got to have people who they may not know your vision, but they’re willing to buy into your vision. Those things always resonated with me that they share in helping me navigate through this stuff.