She’s one of only three women in the country coaching men’s college basketball

You didn’t want Kayla Slovenec guarding you.

Slovenec, who played NCAA Division III basketball as a 5-foot-7 guard for Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, always wanted the toughest assignments.

“You could count on me guarding the opposing team’s best player and getting in their shorts a little bit,” Slovenec said.

Slovenec, 23, has brought that same intensity to St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.

But, there’s a twist.

Instead of coaching women’s basketball, St. Thomas hired Slovenec this summer as a graduate assistant for the men’s team. She is the first woman coach St. Thomas has hired for its men’s basketball team.

She becomes just the third woman coaching men’s college basketball this year — at any level — joining Maine’s Edniesha Curry and Loyola Maryland’s Corin “Tiny” Adams, who both work in Division I as full-time assistants.

In the history of NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball, there have been only five female coaches — none in Florida.

D.P. Harris, who is in his second year as St. Thomas’ men’s basketball coach, knows Slovenec from their days in Pittsburgh.

Harris, who spent 16 years coaching the Saint Vincent men’s team, calls Slovenec “tenacious.” Knowing Slovenec’s character gave him an idea to hire her, and his thought process came with an added benefit.

“If we’re going to ask our players to be respectful of women and to be great husbands and leaders, then let’s put a woman around them — a woman who has played college basketball and will hold them accountable,” Harris said.

“Kayla runs our study hall twice a week. She handles our travel arrangements. She gets the players in their shooting drills, makes sure they are stretched out. She does academic oversight and recruiting calls.

“She’s a graduate assistant, but she works 60 hours per week and does everything our other coaches do.”

When it came to hiring Slovenec, there was a bottom line.

“Whether you’re a woman or a man,” Harris said, “we want the best people around our players.”

Pittsburgh power

Slovenec and Harris have a shared history in many respects, both raised by single mothers. Both of their fathers were truck drivers.

For Harris, a 50-year-old native of Wheeling, West Virginia, his journey into coaching began when he was 23, Slovenec’s age now. He took a job as a coaching volunteer for the Saint Vincent men’s basketball team.

“It was 144 miles round trip from Wheeling to Latrobe, and I wasn’t paid, but I was just dumb enough to do it,” Harris said. “One of my jobs was popping popcorn on Fridays for the monks at the student rec center.”

It worked out for Harris, who met his wife at Saint Vincent, became the head coach and associate athletic director, raising millions of dollars for the school.

He also handled logistics for the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp, which is held every year on Saint Vincent’s campus.

“It’s like the circus,” Harris said. “The Steelers get 10,000 fans every day for camp.”

Harris went 318-126 in 16 years at Saint Vincent, taking the Bearcats to the Division III NCAA Tournament in five of his final seven seasons.

Turning St. Thomas around

Looking for a new challenge, he inherited an 11-16 St. Thomas team. Hired on March 7, 2019, Harris wasted no time.

“I got a St. Thomas polo shirt from our bookstore,” Harris said, “and I immediately went recruiting in Alabama.”

In his St. Thomas debut last season, Harris led the Bobcats to a 22-6 record — including five wins over top 25 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics schools. The Bobcats lost 78-73 to 17th-ranked Southeastern in the Sun Conference title game.

This year, Harris has three coaches on his staff — including Slovenec.

“Pittsburgh people are built differently,” Harris said. “I come from a family of coal miners and farmers. Pittsburgh people worked in the steel mills. It’s a hard-working culture.”

A love of basketball early on

Slovenec, who started 87 out of the 112 games she played during her four-year career at Saint Vincent, has been in love with basketball since she was a Pittsburgh first-grader.

“I was a very hyperactive kid, running around nonstop,” Slovenec said.

She graduated from Saint Vincent in May, majoring in communications with a minor in marketing.

Coaching wasn’t something she had considered … until Harris offered her the job.

“[Harris] saw potential in me,” she said. “I think we have the same mindset and work ethic, and that’s why I got this opportunity.”

Kheron Millwood, a 6-4 senior forward, said he and his St. Thomas teammates have made a “quick adjustment” to Slovenec.

“It’s the first time I’ve had a female coach, and, at first, it was a little different,” Millwood said. “[Harris] had already told us we should respect women, and we know that. We treat her like an equal — like any other coach.”

Millwood has noticed Slovenec’s competitiveness. She doesn’t give the players “any slack,” whether it’s on the court or in study hall.

Slovenec loves Miami’s diversity and hot weather, and it’s been gratifying to help the players with their academics.

But her on-court role is something she is still navigating.

“The hardest part is finding my voice,” said Slovenec, who started meeting the players on Aug. 17. “I’m still learning the guys, how they play and their temperaments.

“It’s a much faster pace from the women’s game. The guys get after each other in practice, but they don’t hold a grudge.”

Harris said Slovenec has already helped St. Thomas’ players improve the crude language often heard in athletics.

“We bite our tongues,” Harris said. “She’s helped us become communicators. Our locker rooms are cleaner. Guys don’t want to be embarrassed.

“Kayla is very bright, and her moral compass is high. I’m not sure if she wants to maybe become an athletic director. I just think this job will set her up for her next step in life, just like a bunch of monks set me up a quarter-century ago in Latrobe.”