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In 2012, Charity Elliott was named the Lions’ head coach by LMU’s former Athletic Director Bill Husak. Elliott concluded her eighth season with the Lions in 2019-20, and will be entering her ninth season. Elliott is the fifth head coach in LMU women’s basketball history.
Through eight seasons with the Lions, Elliott has compiled a 98-150 overall record, bringing her 18-year career coaching mark to 280-275. Elliott collected her 250th career coaching victory on January 27, 2018, in a 90-84 win at San Diego.
Elliott posted her most successful season at LMU in 2017-18, leading the Lions to a 19-11 record including 11-7 in conference play. The team began the 2017-18 campaign 7-0 with major wins on the road at Saint Louis and at home vs. Arizona, which marked the best start for the program since the 2003-04 season. Under her guidance, the Lions have earned the WCC Newcomer of the Year award in back-to-back seasons, with Gabby Green winning the honor in 2018 and Jackie Johnson in 2017.
In 2018-19, Elliott led LMU to its first post-season appearance in 14 years, as the team was selected to play in the WNIT and took on University of Idaho in the first round of the tournament. The team’s post season stint came after Elliott led the Lions to an 18-15 season, which included a win over No. 23 UCLA and No. 25 BYU.
In her first season at the helm of the Lion program Elliott guided LMU to a 13-18 overall record, 6-10 WCC mark and 9-5 record at home in Gersten Pavilion. Playing their best basketball during the home stretch of the season, the 2012-13 Lions earned a huge upset of BYU on senior night and came from behind for a key road victory over San Francisco to clinch the fifth seed in the WCC Championship Tournament.
In 2013-14, Elliott's Lions went 9-21 and 6-12 in the WCC. A second straight season of earning a sweep of PCH Cup rival Pepperdine, and program records set by Hazel Ramirez (single-season assists, career assists) and Leslie Lopez-Wood (single-season three-pointers) were highlights during a season of transition as new leaders began to find their footing.
Elliott completed a highly successful five-year run with the Division II UC San Diego Tritons in 2011-12, compiling a 127-34 (.789) overall record and 90-16 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association from 2007-08 through 2011-12. In her final season at UCSD, Elliott led the Tritons to a 30-3 overall record, including going unbeaten in their first 26 games. The team spent seven weeks ranked #1 in NCAA Division II, the first #1 ranking in school history. Elliott capped the season by being named 2012 West Region Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the National Coach of the Year honor.
During her tenure, Elliott led UCSD to three regular-season conference championships, four NCAA Tournament appearances and one Sweet 16 appearance. She also earned three CCAA Coach of the Year honors.
Elliott spent three seasons as the head coach at Portland State where she led the Vikings to a remarkable turnaround during her tenure. After PSU finished with an overall record of 3-23 during her first year in 2004-05, she led the Vikings to a 12-16 overall mark and 6-8 in the Big Sky Conference during her second season. The nine-win improvement ranked amongst the nation's top 20 and Portland State qualified for the Big Sky Tournament for the first time in three years.
Before taking the Portland State job, Elliott served as an assistant coach at Arkansas for one season and was the head coach at Cal Baptist for two seasons. She has also served in an assistant capacity with Southwest Baptist, Southwest Missouri State and San Diego State.
Elliott began her collegiate basketball career at Rice University, where she played for two seasons, averaging 16 ppg as a sophomore before transferring to Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). While at SMS, Elliott guided the Bears to a 31-3 record and the program's first-ever Final Four appearance as a senior in 1992. An integral part of one of the most successful teams in program history, she ranked in the top 10 nationally in free throw percentage and was named SMS' Female Student-Athlete of the Year as well as Woman of the Year at the end of the 1991-92 season. The Bears posted a 57-8 record during her two-year career with the program.
In March of 2015, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inducted the Lady Bears' 1992 Final Four team -- the first Division I Missouri basketball program, male or female, to reach a Final Four in the sport's illustrious history.
Elliott earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Southwest Missouri State and her Master's of Science in education from Southwest Baptist University.
