Annitra Cole was named the head women’s basketball coach at Central State University in the fall of 2024. It is a role that she has been preparing for throughout her career. If there is a thread that is found throughout Cole’s career is that she helps to improve each program that she joins. For the past two seasons, Cole has been a member of the coaching staff at Norfolk State University where the Spartans have had one of their most impressive runs in school history. In two seasons with the Spartans, Cole has helped guide the team to a 53-13 overall record and back-to-back Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances . This also included four student-athletes who earned MEAC AllConference honors. Prior to joining the staff at Norfolk State, Cole spent several stints at NCAA Division II institutions. She spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia State University. During her time at VSU, the Trojans had a pair of student-athletes who claimed Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) All-Conference honors as well as an Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar Award honoree as well. During the 2021-2022 campaign the Trojans finished the season with an overall record of 13-17 but had an amazing run in the CIAA Tournament by upsetting two higher seeds to reach the semi-finals. Cole also spent a year at Kentucky State University as an assistant coach for the 2018-19 season. She even became the team’s acting head coach for 13 games, and the team advanced to the championship game of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament but suffered a tough loss in the final moments 44-42. The effort was the team’s most successful season in over three years, and the Thorobreds finished with an overall record of 16-14. She assisted in the development of Brooke Wallace, who was a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Second-Team All-Conference Selection. Before joining Kentucky State, Cole spent four years as an assistant coach at WinstonSalem State University from 2014-18. In her final season with the program, the team compiled its first winning record since 2013-14, going 6-1 during one dominant stretch of the campaign. Cole coached two conference all-rookie team performers with the Rams and helped develop star Kandace Tate, who earned a spot on the CIAA All-Conference team for the second straight season in 2017-18 after averaging 14.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game. Cole received her first collegiate head coaching job in September of 2011, leading the Washington Adventist University women’s basketball program until 2014. She navigated the Lady Shock to the team’s most wins since the 2007-08 campaign and she followed the effort adding three wins to the total in the 2013-14 season. As the leader of the Washington Adventist program, Cole helped the team succeed off the court as well as on it. She coached four All-Independent Collegiate Athletic Association award recipients, an AllAmerican United State Collegiate Athletic Association honorable mention, and a United State Collegiate Athletic Association Winter Sport All-Academic Team selection. In addition to her head coaching duties at Washington Adventist, Cole also served as the athletic department’s compliance coordinator, maintaining accurate student-athlete and department files and conducting continuing rules and compliance education programs for coaches, staff, and student-athletes. She also took on the role of sports information director, preparing media releases to deliver news about the university’s athletics programs. Cole served as a compliance intern with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) from 2010-11, assisting with NCAA rules interpretations and education and processing National Letters of Intent (NLI) into a national database. She also spent one season with the Hampton University women’s basketball program as an assistant coach from 2009-10, where they compiled a regular season record of 17-11, going 12-4 in conference play. The Pirates would go on to win the MEAC Tournament Championship, the team’s first since 2006, securing a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Cole’s coaching career began at her alma mater, North Carolina Central University. After spending a season as a graduate assistant at the school from 2002-03, and two years as an assistant coach at Riverside High School from 2004-06, she rejoined the Eagles as an assistant coach from 2006-09. North Carolina Central enjoyed historic success during Cole’s time on the coaching staff. The Eagles won the CIAA Tournament Championship in 2007, becoming Black College Sports Page (BCSP) Co-Women’s Basketball Black College National Champions. That year, the team set the school record for wins (26) and consecutive victories (19). Before coaching at NCCU, Cole excelled on the court there as a student-athlete. During her playing career, she led the Eagles to two CIAA Western Division regular season titles, earning the No. 1 ranking in the South Atlantic Regional Poll for the first time in school history. The team advanced to its first-ever NCAA Division II “Sweet 16” during the 2002 season. Cole received her Bachelor of Arts in History from North Carolina Central in 2002 and she earned a Master of Arts in History from the school in 2004. She is a native of Oxon Hill, Maryland and graduated from Friendly High School where she earned second team All-Met Prince George’s County 3A/2A and second team All-Met honors during her junior and senior seasons. She was named a team captain from 1995-97. Cole is also a graduate of the NCAA and BCA Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) Program in 2013, and a 2012 graduate of the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy.
