Akia Stanton was named the Head Women’s Basketball Coach on May 30, 2024, by Director of Athletics, Dr. Kristene Kelly.
ASU didn't have to go far geographically to find the new veteran court general in Coach Stanton, who has been the Talladega College (Ala.) basketball coach, for the past two seasons and had already put the pieces in play to turn the Lady Tornado program around.
The energetic and self-motivated new Lady Rams Head Coach brings eight years directing three different programs, including Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Allen University along with two seasons as associate head coach of South Carolina State and three campaigns as assistant coach of her alma mater Paine College.
Stanton played for and later coached under current Paine College Director of Athletics Selina Kohn, who herself was a legendary basketball player at Albany State under Coach Skinner and previously served as the Lady Rams assistant coach.
Stanton is no stranger to success and building programs into successful teams on and off the court. In the last two seasons, Stanton guided Talladega College to a four-game improvement. The results-driven coach aims to build upon ASU's 2023-24 campaign where the Lady Rams ran off a pair of wins before bowing out in the SIAC Tournament Quarterfinals.
Prior to her stint as South Carolina State associate head coach, Stanton guided Allen University (2018-20) to a 16-15 first-year record before she directed the program to its most victories in a season going 23-8 with a team, which featured 12 first-year freshmen. The head coach's two squads also posted the highest team grade point average of 3.2, which is a staple of her team.
Coach Stanton's first head coaching stop came at Jarvis Christian College where her teams again had the athletic department's highest team GPA of 3.5 for four straight years, as well as student-athletes garnering both All-Conference and All-Academic honors. Most impressively is Stanton's 100% graduation rate.
While as an assistant coach at her alma mater Paine College, Stanton saw at least one of her student-athletes be voted All-Conference from 2011 through 2017.
Under Paine College AD and then Head Coach Kohn, Stanton produced a collegiate playing career in both volleyball and basketball where she shined so bright, that she earned a 2015 induction into the Lady Lions Hall of Fame. In basketball, Stanton helped Paine to back-to-back hoops SIAC titles in 2005 and 2006, and trips to the NCAA DII Tournament. She also recorded the second-best hitting percentage in DII for volleyball the in fall of 2006.
The Milledgeville, Georgia native started her career in athletics as a three-sport athlete at Baldwin High School and was the school's only Regional winner in two years in a row in three different sports.
At home, Stanton is a proud mother of Laila and Amari.
