Shields’ Winding Basketball Road Comes Full Circle
Apr 05, 2022 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Before Jill Shields began her journey into March — the four-state, month-long parade of hotels, meetings, and NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship games — she phoned her dad. She told 81-year-old Brad Killen how much she treasured growing up in the Southeast of Saline High School gymnasium, how much she enjoyed running stats for the high school sports teams as a young child, and finally, most importantly of all, Jill told her father that she loved him.
This is a story about life coming full circle, and in order to fully appreciate the essence of this tale, it becomes paramount to grasp the details of it all, which began with Brad and Deanna, living with their four children in a trailer home for a short time after Brad accepted the position of principal at Southeast of Saline High School, located about 4 miles west of Gypsum, on the south side of Highway K-4, which serves the communities of Gypsum, Assaria, Kipp and Mentor. Jill's graduating class had 66 students.
With Deanna working to complete her degree in education at Bethany College, Brad took the young children — Brian, Darren, Jon and Jill — to the high school gym every day to allow Deanna the opportunity to study. Jill learned to shoot baskets inside the gym. She caught the sports bug almost immediately.
"I was one of those kids that when dad was going to a jay-vee football game or to watch girls' volleyball or basketball, I was always in the car wanting to go with him," she says. "I loved athletics. I admired him and his role and the impact he had on students daily. Both him and mom were in education and had a tremendous impact on people.
"I envisioned a life of teaching and coaching. Along the way, it just took a little bit different path. I've just been one of those basketball junkies, and always loved it, but I never dreamed…"
She pauses.
"…that I'd be one of the people in the selection room putting together the bracket for the women's NCAA Tournament."
• • •
Shields, a member of the Kansas State Athletics Department for 23 years, was named Deputy Athletics Director in 2017 after serving as Executive Associate Athletics Director for Student Services the previous two years. As deputy athletics director, Shields oversees the daily internal operation of the entire athletics department and serves as the department's senior woman administrator. She also oversees the day-to-day operation of the football program while serving as the sport administrator for women's basketball and volleyball.
In 2019, Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby called Shields to inquire her interest in serving on the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee — ("I was excited," she says) — and Shields was approved by the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee to serve a five-year appointment on the basketball committee on March 8, 2019.
Today, the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee consists of 12 members. The committee features one member from each of the five autonomy conferences and three members from the seven highest-ranked non-autonomy conferences based on basketball success. The remaining four members are selected from the 20 other conferences.
Shields and fellow committee members are responsible for annual selection, seeding and bracketing of the Division I Women's Basketball Tournament field. She participates in reginal advisory committee calls, attends in-person meetings, and dedicates other-worldly hours in educating herself on teams across the country.
"It really is a labor of love," she says. "I was happy to take on the role, and it is a lot of work, but I like giving back to the sport of women's basketball. I've watched over 200 basketball games. You must be prepared because a big piece of serving on the committee is the bracket and putting these selections together. It's fun to serve the student-athletes and coaches in a little bit different role and hopefully provide them a bracket that's fair and truly reflects the season. You want to get it right."
Shields' personal motto is affixed to a little sign near her desk in her office.
"FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME GET IT RIGHT," the sign reads.
• • •
Shields earned her bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Central Florida in 1990. She starred on Golden Knights women's basketball team. She was named team MVP her senior year. She loved the game so much that she embarked upon an eight-year stint as a women's basketball assistant coach — first at UCF; then at North Georgia College, where she earned her master's degree in education in 1992; then at Florida Southern; and finally at Wichita State, which is one hour south of Assaria. She served as assistant coach for five years with the Shockers before moving to senior admissions representative in the university's admissions office.
Shields (third from left) and the other members of the 1996-97 Wichita State women's basketball coaching staff
"I really thought I'd stay in coaching but once I got married, I didn't see how it'd work wanting to have a family," she says. "I was recruiting coordinator at Wichita State and didn't want to shortchange a spouse and kids."
Shields discovered that K-State had an opening to become academic counselor for baseball and women's basketball in 1998. Eventually, she was named Associate Director for Student Services with stints directing the support services for football, women's basketball, and volleyball, as well as Life Skills programming. Then she was named Assistant Athletics Director for Student Services, where she directed all aspects of the academic support program and student services for athletics.
She played a pivotal role in the academic success of the women's basketball team, which posted the highest GPA (3.374) by a BCS conference school under her watch. She helped mentor four CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans, including two-time recipient Laurie Koehn, as well as 62 Academic All-Big 12 selections between 2000-2009. She played a part in the academic excellence of the women's volleyball program, which earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award seven straight seasons.
Today, Jill and Mark Shields live in Manhattan and have two children, Sydney and Sam. Sam is a sophomore offensive lineman at K-State.
She has seen K-State grow up before her eyes.
Most recently, K-State in December broke ground on the new Football Indoor Practice Facility, the Morgan Family Arena and Olympic Training Center, part of the $125 million Building Champions campaign initiated in 2019, which includes a total of $97.5 million or raised money that consists of more than 140 gifts and features two eight-figure gifts, 18 seven-figure gifts, and $13.75 million from first-time donors.
"The financial support and our development team has just been tremendous in helping us with donors and being able to allow us to enhance our facilities, which was really needed at K-State," she says. "That's been the biggest change. What we've been able to afford our student-athletes, the performance table, the academic enhancement center, the nutrition stations that we have, those pieces have really enhanced our student-athlete's experience and have hopefully helped performance along the way."
• • •
June will mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX being passed into American law and helping create gender equality in sport. The NCAA states that athletic programs are considered educational programs and activities. There are three basic parts of Title IX as it applies to athletics.
Title IX requires that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports, require that female and male student-athletes receive athletics scholarship dollars proportional to their participation, and requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes in the provisions of equipment and supplies; scheduling of games and practice times; travel and daily per diem; access to tutoring; coaching, locker rooms practice and competitive facilities; medical and training facilities and services; housing and dining facilities and services; publicity and promotions; and support services and recruitment of student-athletes.
"Title IX has allowed me to do what I do as an administrator at Kansas State and to now be in the role that I am," Shields says. "If not for gender-equity and Title IX, I wouldn't have a job like I do now."
However, Shields admits, "While we're making strides, there's still room to grow. I think people are recognizing that and recognizing that there's a pretty good product out there and one that a lot of people are interested in, and they're getting on board, whether that's financially or just attending games.
"Attendance has increased, viewership has been up significantly, and benchmarks in social media postings have significantly improved," Shields adds, "so we're getting there."
However, glaring disparities between the men's and women's basketball tournaments in 2021 drew public outcry and concern among administrators. The NCAA commission on gender-equity helped to guide changes for the 2022 basketball tournaments, which included the women's right to use the March Madness slogan and logo, improved signage, and equitable student-athlete gifts and accommodations at women's tournament sites.
Shields and the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee gathered in Indianapolis the week of the Big 12 Tournament and decided the 68-team NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship bracket prior to the Selection Show at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 13. Shields traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, to attend K-State's first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games on March 19 and 21.
Then Shields traveled to Wichita State University and the Wichita Regional that featured No. 1 Louisville, No. 2 Michigan, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 10 South Dakota at INTRUST Bank Arena on March 26 and 28.
"We've made tremendous strides (in the 2022 NCAA Women's Championship)," Shields says. "The visual pieces of the tournament, the marketing, branding and signage, is at a whole different level this year for student-athletes and they see that. They see that when they walk into the arena, at the hotels and when they arrive at the airport. Some of that wasn't done before simply to be honest because it just wasn't in the women's basketball budget to do. It's more equitable. There's been a concerted effort to get it right. The feedback we've received from the student-athletes and coaches has been really positive.
"Wichita State knocked it out of the park. They did a wonderful job of making sure the student-athletes felt like they were at a regional tournament just like the men. We've gotten the visual pieces of gender-equity correct."
Shortly after No. 1 Louisville defeated No. 3 Michigan 62-50 at INTRUST Bank Arena to advance to the Final Four, Shields drove from Wichita to Manhattan. She arrived early in the morning, grabbed a few hours of sleep, then flew to Minneapolis to the Final Four.
The Wichita Regional was particularly special. It served as an opportunity for Shields to reconnect with Wichita State athletic department staff, including Brad Pittman, Wichita State senior associate athletic director, who served as the tournament manager for the host site.
"It's kind of neat to see it come full circle," she says.
Just one hour north at the Southeast Saline High School gymnasium was where it all began. The girl who was a basketball junkie eager to help run statistics, whose passion evolved into a college career as a student-athlete, whose passion then evolved into serving as a basketball coach, and whose passion steered into athletics administration, had become one of the most well-respected Division I administrators in the nation.
For the good of the game, Shields has gotten it right.
Life genuinely came full circle when Shields made a stirring, eye-popping discovery that traced back several decades to a place she loves full well. Unbeknownst to Shields, her father had sent the gears of basketball fever into motion many years ago — his love of hoops and stats firmly rooted on the same college campus where his daughter has established impressive roots of her own.
"My dad, when he was a little boy, he was a huge K-State fan," she says. "He'd listen to all the basketball games on the radio. Once in a while, his uncle took him to games at Ahearn Field House. One day when I was going through some old boxes, I found an old Big Chief writing tablet."
"Dad," she says, "had kept stats over the years of all the K-State players."
Before Jill Shields began her journey into March — the four-state, month-long parade of hotels, meetings, and NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship games — she phoned her dad. She told 81-year-old Brad Killen how much she treasured growing up in the Southeast of Saline High School gymnasium, how much she enjoyed running stats for the high school sports teams as a young child, and finally, most importantly of all, Jill told her father that she loved him.
This is a story about life coming full circle, and in order to fully appreciate the essence of this tale, it becomes paramount to grasp the details of it all, which began with Brad and Deanna, living with their four children in a trailer home for a short time after Brad accepted the position of principal at Southeast of Saline High School, located about 4 miles west of Gypsum, on the south side of Highway K-4, which serves the communities of Gypsum, Assaria, Kipp and Mentor. Jill's graduating class had 66 students.
With Deanna working to complete her degree in education at Bethany College, Brad took the young children — Brian, Darren, Jon and Jill — to the high school gym every day to allow Deanna the opportunity to study. Jill learned to shoot baskets inside the gym. She caught the sports bug almost immediately.
"I was one of those kids that when dad was going to a jay-vee football game or to watch girls' volleyball or basketball, I was always in the car wanting to go with him," she says. "I loved athletics. I admired him and his role and the impact he had on students daily. Both him and mom were in education and had a tremendous impact on people.
"I envisioned a life of teaching and coaching. Along the way, it just took a little bit different path. I've just been one of those basketball junkies, and always loved it, but I never dreamed…"
She pauses.
"…that I'd be one of the people in the selection room putting together the bracket for the women's NCAA Tournament."
• • •
Shields, a member of the Kansas State Athletics Department for 23 years, was named Deputy Athletics Director in 2017 after serving as Executive Associate Athletics Director for Student Services the previous two years. As deputy athletics director, Shields oversees the daily internal operation of the entire athletics department and serves as the department's senior woman administrator. She also oversees the day-to-day operation of the football program while serving as the sport administrator for women's basketball and volleyball.
In 2019, Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby called Shields to inquire her interest in serving on the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee — ("I was excited," she says) — and Shields was approved by the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee to serve a five-year appointment on the basketball committee on March 8, 2019.
Today, the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee consists of 12 members. The committee features one member from each of the five autonomy conferences and three members from the seven highest-ranked non-autonomy conferences based on basketball success. The remaining four members are selected from the 20 other conferences.
Shields and fellow committee members are responsible for annual selection, seeding and bracketing of the Division I Women's Basketball Tournament field. She participates in reginal advisory committee calls, attends in-person meetings, and dedicates other-worldly hours in educating herself on teams across the country.
"It really is a labor of love," she says. "I was happy to take on the role, and it is a lot of work, but I like giving back to the sport of women's basketball. I've watched over 200 basketball games. You must be prepared because a big piece of serving on the committee is the bracket and putting these selections together. It's fun to serve the student-athletes and coaches in a little bit different role and hopefully provide them a bracket that's fair and truly reflects the season. You want to get it right."
Shields' personal motto is affixed to a little sign near her desk in her office.
"FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME GET IT RIGHT," the sign reads.
• • •
Shields earned her bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Central Florida in 1990. She starred on Golden Knights women's basketball team. She was named team MVP her senior year. She loved the game so much that she embarked upon an eight-year stint as a women's basketball assistant coach — first at UCF; then at North Georgia College, where she earned her master's degree in education in 1992; then at Florida Southern; and finally at Wichita State, which is one hour south of Assaria. She served as assistant coach for five years with the Shockers before moving to senior admissions representative in the university's admissions office.
Shields (third from left) and the other members of the 1996-97 Wichita State women's basketball coaching staff
"I really thought I'd stay in coaching but once I got married, I didn't see how it'd work wanting to have a family," she says. "I was recruiting coordinator at Wichita State and didn't want to shortchange a spouse and kids."
Shields discovered that K-State had an opening to become academic counselor for baseball and women's basketball in 1998. Eventually, she was named Associate Director for Student Services with stints directing the support services for football, women's basketball, and volleyball, as well as Life Skills programming. Then she was named Assistant Athletics Director for Student Services, where she directed all aspects of the academic support program and student services for athletics.
She played a pivotal role in the academic success of the women's basketball team, which posted the highest GPA (3.374) by a BCS conference school under her watch. She helped mentor four CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans, including two-time recipient Laurie Koehn, as well as 62 Academic All-Big 12 selections between 2000-2009. She played a part in the academic excellence of the women's volleyball program, which earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award seven straight seasons.
Today, Jill and Mark Shields live in Manhattan and have two children, Sydney and Sam. Sam is a sophomore offensive lineman at K-State.
She has seen K-State grow up before her eyes.
Most recently, K-State in December broke ground on the new Football Indoor Practice Facility, the Morgan Family Arena and Olympic Training Center, part of the $125 million Building Champions campaign initiated in 2019, which includes a total of $97.5 million or raised money that consists of more than 140 gifts and features two eight-figure gifts, 18 seven-figure gifts, and $13.75 million from first-time donors.
"The financial support and our development team has just been tremendous in helping us with donors and being able to allow us to enhance our facilities, which was really needed at K-State," she says. "That's been the biggest change. What we've been able to afford our student-athletes, the performance table, the academic enhancement center, the nutrition stations that we have, those pieces have really enhanced our student-athlete's experience and have hopefully helped performance along the way."
• • •
June will mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX being passed into American law and helping create gender equality in sport. The NCAA states that athletic programs are considered educational programs and activities. There are three basic parts of Title IX as it applies to athletics.
Title IX requires that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports, require that female and male student-athletes receive athletics scholarship dollars proportional to their participation, and requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes in the provisions of equipment and supplies; scheduling of games and practice times; travel and daily per diem; access to tutoring; coaching, locker rooms practice and competitive facilities; medical and training facilities and services; housing and dining facilities and services; publicity and promotions; and support services and recruitment of student-athletes.
"Title IX has allowed me to do what I do as an administrator at Kansas State and to now be in the role that I am," Shields says. "If not for gender-equity and Title IX, I wouldn't have a job like I do now."
However, Shields admits, "While we're making strides, there's still room to grow. I think people are recognizing that and recognizing that there's a pretty good product out there and one that a lot of people are interested in, and they're getting on board, whether that's financially or just attending games.
"Attendance has increased, viewership has been up significantly, and benchmarks in social media postings have significantly improved," Shields adds, "so we're getting there."
However, glaring disparities between the men's and women's basketball tournaments in 2021 drew public outcry and concern among administrators. The NCAA commission on gender-equity helped to guide changes for the 2022 basketball tournaments, which included the women's right to use the March Madness slogan and logo, improved signage, and equitable student-athlete gifts and accommodations at women's tournament sites.
Shields and the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee gathered in Indianapolis the week of the Big 12 Tournament and decided the 68-team NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship bracket prior to the Selection Show at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 13. Shields traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, to attend K-State's first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games on March 19 and 21.
Then Shields traveled to Wichita State University and the Wichita Regional that featured No. 1 Louisville, No. 2 Michigan, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 10 South Dakota at INTRUST Bank Arena on March 26 and 28.
"We've made tremendous strides (in the 2022 NCAA Women's Championship)," Shields says. "The visual pieces of the tournament, the marketing, branding and signage, is at a whole different level this year for student-athletes and they see that. They see that when they walk into the arena, at the hotels and when they arrive at the airport. Some of that wasn't done before simply to be honest because it just wasn't in the women's basketball budget to do. It's more equitable. There's been a concerted effort to get it right. The feedback we've received from the student-athletes and coaches has been really positive.
"Wichita State knocked it out of the park. They did a wonderful job of making sure the student-athletes felt like they were at a regional tournament just like the men. We've gotten the visual pieces of gender-equity correct."
Shortly after No. 1 Louisville defeated No. 3 Michigan 62-50 at INTRUST Bank Arena to advance to the Final Four, Shields drove from Wichita to Manhattan. She arrived early in the morning, grabbed a few hours of sleep, then flew to Minneapolis to the Final Four.
The Wichita Regional was particularly special. It served as an opportunity for Shields to reconnect with Wichita State athletic department staff, including Brad Pittman, Wichita State senior associate athletic director, who served as the tournament manager for the host site.
"It's kind of neat to see it come full circle," she says.
Just one hour north at the Southeast Saline High School gymnasium was where it all began. The girl who was a basketball junkie eager to help run statistics, whose passion evolved into a college career as a student-athlete, whose passion then evolved into serving as a basketball coach, and whose passion steered into athletics administration, had become one of the most well-respected Division I administrators in the nation.
For the good of the game, Shields has gotten it right.
Life genuinely came full circle when Shields made a stirring, eye-popping discovery that traced back several decades to a place she loves full well. Unbeknownst to Shields, her father had sent the gears of basketball fever into motion many years ago — his love of hoops and stats firmly rooted on the same college campus where his daughter has established impressive roots of her own.
"My dad, when he was a little boy, he was a huge K-State fan," she says. "He'd listen to all the basketball games on the radio. Once in a while, his uncle took him to games at Ahearn Field House. One day when I was going through some old boxes, I found an old Big Chief writing tablet."
"Dad," she says, "had kept stats over the years of all the K-State players."
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