Michelle Kurowski enters her fourth season with the Tribe women's basketball program, and her third season as an assistant coach.
The 2019-20 season for the Tribe was one for the history books. On the court, the Tribe posted the school record for wins with 21, CAA wins (12), road wins (11), and highest seed in the CAA Tournament (third). With a final RPI of 104, the Tribe was on the verge to earn a postseason berth to, at least, the WNIT for the first time in the program’s history. In all, the Tribe won six more games from the previous season, while also winning five more league contests. For the third straight season, W&M had a player on the league’s first-team as Eva Hodgson developed from the CAA Rookie of the Year to All-CAA First-Team. Senior Victoria Reynolds also earned her first All-CAA award as she was named to the league’s second-team, and freshman Bre Bellamy was tabbed to all-rookie honors.
Kurowski served as the director of basketball operations last year in her first season with the Tribe. She was in charge of all day-to-day scheduling, travel, and equipment last season. On the court, the Tribe won 15 games and had a pair of players honored by the Colonial Athletic Association. Senior
Bianca Boggs was named to the First-Team All-CAA and CAA All-Defensive team, while freshman
Eva Hodgson was named the CAA Rookie of the Year.
Prior to her time with the Tribe, Kurowski was an elementary school teacher for four years. Along with her teaching career, Kurowski served as an assistant coach for the girl's basketball team at St. Dominic. She also served as the head volleyball coach and assistant coach for the lacrosse team at St. Dominic during her time there.
Kurowski served as the volunteer assistant at her alma mater, UMBC, during the 2013-14 season, and has also honed her basketball coaching skills at numerous camps and with club teams. She has worked with the Long Island Nests (2017), ProHoops (2008-18), and worked as a coach with Huntingtower School in Melbourne, Australia and Ringwood Hawks Australia U14 team, while she was playing in Australia.
She played four years of college basketball at UMBC, helping guide the Retrievers to 64 wins during her career, and a berth in the 2011 WNIT. She graduated as the school's leader in games played (124) and games started (118), while being UMBC's second-leading scorer with 1,690 points and 10th leading rebounder with 663 boards. She ranks in the top-10 in UMBC history in 15 career stat categories.
A decorated player, she was named to the All-America East Second Team in 2012, after receiving All-America East First-Team honors in 2011, and America East All-Rookie team in 2009. She also received numerous awards for her work in the classroom, including being named a Lowe's Senior CLASS Award finalist (2012), Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar team (2012), Capital One Academic All-District First-Team (2012), and America East All-Academic Team (2012).
Following her collegiate career, Kurowski went onto to play two seasons of professional basketball overseas. She played for La Grenache in France during the 2012-13 season, and the Ringwood Hawks in Melbourne, Australia during the 2014 season.
Kurowski earned her bachelor's degree from UMBC in psychology in 2011, before going on to earn her master's degree in early childhood education in 2013.
