EVANSVILLE - University of Evansville women's basketball Director of Basketball Operations Tanaeya BoClair's résumé is an impressive one, especially for someone who has not been around the game for that long.

BoClair's basketball journey began just 12 years ago as a seventh grader. Previous to trying-out for her middle school basketball team, BoClair had focused on volleyball, ballet, and gymnastics.

"I had basically never picked up a basketball before that. I kind of did everything else," said BoClair on starting basketball at a relatively late point in her adolescence. 

"I just decided to try out for my middle school basketball team, because everybody always asked me because I was tall," remarked BoClair. "And so I just kind of went for it, and ended up making the team and found an AAU team to get involved with and from there, it kind of just like started taking off."

What started there was a career that took BoClair to a power five program at Utah, where she scored 1,030 points and gathered over 500 rebounds.

After her four-year playing career with the Utes, BoClair accepted a position as graduate assistant with Utah's women's basketball program and was promoted to Director of Player Personnel for 2019-20.

"When I first started playing, throughout my time at Utah is when I really decided that coaching is something that I could see myself doing," said BoClair on when she realized she might want to pursue a career in coaching. "I had always felt like I had a good understanding of the game. But I think you learn it at a whole other level at the college level and just like gaining experience, like helping my teammates understand what we're doing on the court and really learning why we're doing stuff."

As she just begins her coaching career, BoClair sees an importance in former players like herself getting involved in coaching the game, an initiative that head coach Matt Ruffing has been a vocal supporter.

"I would say as a player, seeing other women who have also played the game and who are exceeding as coaches and succeeding was really inspiring to see that," said BoClair on what it means to see former players as coaches. 

"Maybe you didn't see it a lot before. But now seeing that it's becoming more popular, and it's becoming more of a focus, in the woman's basketball game for women to be in those positions. And I think just having a woman's voice as a leader, and as a part of a program is huge, and just provides a lot of perspective."

BoClair is walking a path that women who inspired her have also walked as she looks to be a mentor for current women's players.

"Representation really matters. And it is so affirming, I think to look over to see somebody who looks like you, who has also gone through the same process and is walking the path that you hope to walk yourself one day," mentioned BoClair about the impact of having former players and specifically women of color as members of the coaching staff. "Having those role models, like women of color, and women in general, was really important."

BoClair will begin her first season as a member of the Aces' coaching staff this season and answered why she chose Evansville as her next step in her coaching journey.

"When I was interviewing with the coaches, I think overall, they felt super welcoming," said BoClair. "Coach Ruffing made it feel like, as much as I wanted to grow, I was going to have the opportunity to grow while I was here. I think he's really invested in providing women with opportunity to become coaches. And as people say, get your foot in the door."

The journey is still early for BoClair who has accomplished much in a relatively short time with the game of basketball.
 

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