Denise King enters her fourth season at the helm of the UMass Lowell women’s basketball program in the 2024-25 season. King holds a 20-63 overall record and a 16-35 mark in conference play. Her first win came on November 13, 2021, a 68-54 win over the Bryant Bulldogs.
As head coach, King led the River Hawks to back-to-back America East Tournament appearances, earning the #5 seed in 2021-22 and the #7 seed in 2022-23.
King was named the ninth head coach of the UMass Lowell women's basketball program, as announced by Director of Athletics on Thursday, May 20 2021.
No stranger to the River Hawks, King has been a member of the UMass Lowell staff since 2018, serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the team's previous head coach,
Tom Garrick.
During her first three seasons in Lowell as an assistant coach, the River Hawks have seen unprecedented growth, including back-to-back winning seasons and two straight America East Playoffs semifinal appearances. In 2019-20, the team set a DI program record with 16 total wins, and put together a record, seven-game win streak in America East play, earning its first ever home playoff game. This past season, UMass Lowell also earned double-digit wins in conference action, in addition to holding its opponents to an average of just 23.5 percent from beyond the arc to rank second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense.
King has also already helped the River Hawks recruit and develop an America East All-Conference First Team selection, a two-time Second Team pick, two All-Defensive Team selections and an All-Rookie Team honoree.
Before joining the River Hawk staff, the Catonsville, Md. native spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Hofstra from 2013-18. While with the Pride, King was instrumental in recruiting and developing five All-Colonial Athletic Association honorees, as well as the league's 2015 Rookie of the Year, the Metropolitan Rookie of the Year and Full Court's Mid-Major Freshman of the Year, Ashunae Durant. During King's tenure, Hofstra recorded back-to-back, 20-win seasons with victories against Big East and ACC opponents and two berths into WNIT, including a trip to the Elite 8.
Prior to Hofstra, King became an assistant coach at Mount St. Mary's in 2009, where she also led the program's recruiting efforts. Additionally, she organized community service projects during her time in Emmitsburg, while embracing responsibilities as an academic mentor for the team. Thanks to her work with the guards, the Mountaineers' roster boasted the Northeast Conference leader in assists and steals, and the NCAA single-season record holder for consecutive three-point field goals. While at The Mount, King was also the head coach of a 10-day foreign tour team that traveled to Belgium, Germany and France with Global Sports Academy and went 5-0.
A four-year standout as a player at Rhode Island, King began her coaching career as an assistant at her alma mater from 2005-09 under Garrick. Her responsibilities included team travel, film exchange and scouting. She also helped recruit and coach four, Atlantic 10 All-Conference players and an All-District selection, in addition to coaching the 2016 A-10 Legend inductee.
As a player, King was one of only 18 student-athletes to reach the 1,000-point milestone with the Rams and sits 15th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,023 points. She is also fourth in Rhode Island history with 118 three-pointers, 339 assists and a .772 free throw percentage. In her senior year, the two-time team captain averaged 12.4 points and led the team with 4.2 assists per game to earn a spot on the All-Atlantic 10 Third Team.
Also a standout off the court, the 2004 recipient of the Rhode Island Althea Gibson Award represented the university at the 2003 NCAA Leadership Conference, and was inducted into the Phi Sigma National Honor Society, the Golden Key International Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society. In addition, King won the Speaker of the House of Representatives' Scholar Athlete Award for the State of Rhode Island from 2002-2004 and served as a member of the URI Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
King earned her bachelor's degree in business management from URI in 2004, graduating cum laude, and is working on completing her M.Ed in Higher Education Administration.
