Insights from the Mizzou WBB assistant coaches

For the first time we got to hear from Liza Fruendt, Kenzie Kostas and Jennifer Sullivan in their new roles

When Kellie Harper went searching for assistants, the first place she looked was the past. Her first three assistant hires (Jennifer Sullivan, Liza Freundt and Kenzie Kostas) all were integral parts of Harper’s past.

After several years away, they have all rejoined their former coach, looking to build something special here at Mizzou. For the first time we heard from the three assistants in Columbia, here’s what they had to say.

Revisiting Mo State

The first time all four coaches worked together was at Missouri State. Harper was hired in 2013, and by that time Kenzie Kostas was entering her sophomore year with the Lady Bears.

Kostas went on to flourish under Harper’s guide, becoming a two-time Missouri Valley Conference all-league first team selection. She averaged 13.6 points across her career, serving as the backbone of Harper’s first NCAA Tournament team.

“[Harper] definitely shaped me into this type of player I was able to be, and definitely a ton let me down this path. I saw what she was able to do in my life as a player, and so it definitely inspired me because of the knowledge she’s a great teacher of the game. She’s a proven winner,” Kostas said.

In her first year Harper hired Jennifer Sullivan from Louisiana to be one of her assistant coaches. The two spent six years together in Springfield, making the NCAA Tournament as a duo in 2016. In addition, the Lady Bears reached three separate WNIT Tournaments under the guides of Harper and Sullivan.

“I think one of the best [personality traits] is her consistency,” Sullivan said of Harper. “I think it helps the players if the head coach is pretty consistent with their personality, their moods, everyone kind of knows to expect when they show up…she might have bad days, but she thinks she does good job of kind of compartmentalizing things so that we can all stay focused on our task.”

These three musketeers were joined by Fruendt in 2014 during her freshman year. Fruendt was quite the productive player at Missouri State, averaging double digits all four years. She averaged 15-plus PPG in both of her last two seasons, earning First Team All-MVC honors as a result. Working closely as teammates, Liza and Kenzie formed quite the friendship.

“We’re best friends,” Fruendt said. “We still talked all the time when we weren’t working together, but when we got the opportunity to come back and be together, we both couldn’t pass up. I think we’re really similar in ways, but we’re really different also, and I think that that brings a good dynamic to our staff, just being able to kind of bounce off of each other. It’s been truly like a joy, and we’re just so excited all being together [again].”

The Next Step

But all good things must come to an end. Kostas was the first to leave MO State, graduating in 2016 and immediate moving onto Central Missouri as an assistant coach. With the Jennies she helped them to a record of 105-19 as an assistant. She was in Warrensburg until 2021, moving to Florida Atlantic (where Sullivan was now the head coach, but we’ll get to that later). After one year at FAU, Kostas went back to her stomping grounds at Missouri State, spending the last three seasons as an assistant for her alma mater. As a result she only had to move three hours to her new job, rejoining Harper at Mizzou.

Sullivan and Fruendt both left at the end of the 2018 season. Harper left one year later after making her first Sweet 16 to take the job at Tennessee. Sullivan spent one year as an assistant at Ohio State, before immediately joining Harper with the Lady Vols. After two years at Tennessee, Sullivan was offered her first head coaching job with the Florida Atlantic Owls. After 4 years of slow rebuilding, she made the decision to become an assistant coach once again; this time with Mizzou.

“Kellie’s the only person that I would have done it for, hands down,” Sullivan said. “To have the opportunity to work with her again and help her rejuvenate the fan base and program here. The timing for me and my family was right, and this opportunity was right. So [I’m] really excited about the opportunity here.”

Fruendt stayed in the state of Missouri for another two years after graduating, serving as a grad assistant at Kansas City. But she didn’t stay away from Harper for too long, joining her and Sullivan at Tennessee as the recruiting director. That decision paid immediate dividends, bringing in major talents, including Rickea Jackson. She then moved from Tennessee to Illinois for the past season, coaching in her home state for the first time. Now she moves to the opposite side of Braggin’ Rights, crossing the Mississippi back to the Show-Me State.

The Mission

Now that these three have reunited with Harper and in the state of Missouri once again, looking to take the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

The journey starts with building the roster nearly from scratch, as Mizzou returns only five players from last season. The new staff has worked tirelessly to add six confirmed players to the roster (with a seventh on the way).

“Just super excited about all the different pieces,” Kostas said. “For returners that are here, the pieces that we’ve been able to bring in this spring. So I think a lot of different types of players, a lot of different talent that can bring a lot of different things to make a team here.”

Sullivan emphasizes that this previous connection between coaches serves as more than just a trip down memory lane.

“There’s just not gonna be a ton of staffs out there that have not one but two former players [Kostas and Fruendt], and they’re decorated players,” Sullivan points out. “Having them speak to recruits about why they can play for Kellie is going to be a big, big deal. So I’m excited for recruits to get a chance to get first hand knowledge of what it’s like to play for Kellie.”