Cal State East Bay University Athletics

Shanele Stires enters her sixth year as the head women's basketball coach at Cal State East Bay in 2021-22. She began her tenure with the Pioneers in October of 2016.

In her first season, Stires led CSUEB to a 22-9 overall record, a berth in the NCAA Division II West Regionals, and the program's second straight CCAA tournament championship. In her second year, she guided the Pioneers to a 16-`13 overall record and their seventh consecutive CCAA postseason appearance. 

Stires previously served as associate head coach for the women’s basketball team at the University of San Francisco for the last four years. In that role, she was USF’s recruiting coordinator as well as the team’s primary defensive coach. She was instrumental in the Dons’ recent success as the West Coast Conference champions in 2015-16 and NCAA Tournament qualifiers for the first time in 19 years.

Prior to joining the staff at USF, Stires coached at University of Nebraska-Omaha (2011-12), Stetson University (2010-11), San Diego State University (2008-10), USF (2006-08), and Ohio University-Athens (2003-06). During this period, she helped lead her teams to three conference championships and three NCAA tournament appearances. Stires’ coaching background and history has been to advance the competitive success of the programs she has joined.

Stires was a collegiate basketball star at Kansas State from 1992-95, where she scored 1,344 career points, grabbed 701 career rebounds and earned a Kodak All-America honorable mention, First-Team All-Big Eight honors and runner-up in Conference Player of the Year voting as a senior in 1995. She left the school ranked fifth all-time in career rebounds and sixth all-time in scoring.

Following her collegiate experience, Stires moved on to a professional basketball career playing for both the American Basketball League (ABL) and WNBA. Playing for the Columbus Quest from 1996-99, she helped the franchise win two American Basketball League championships. Following the dissolution of the ABL, Stires joined the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, where she played 49 games in the 2000 and 2001 seasons. During the WNBA offseason, she played professionally in Greece, Portugal and Sweden. 

Stires received her Master’s Degree in Collegiate Athletics from University of San Francisco (2016), and holds a bachelor's degree in social science from Kansas State (1995).