Kate Henderson was introduced as the interim head women's basketball coach at UIW on April 3, 2013 following six seasons as the top assistant. Following the 2013-14 season, the interim tag was removed from her title. She joined the Incarnate Word staff in 2007, returning to the program in which she spent two years as a graduate assistant.
In her first season as the UIW head coach, Henderson went through the normal ups and downs associated with a basketball season. The team lost a pair of starters within the first three games to injuries. One would miss the entire season while the other missed a total of 10 games. Despite the difficulties of a short bench, Henderson was able to put together a squad that worked well together and managed to go 8-19. Twin sisters Ify and Kosy Mora were each named Capital One Academic All-District VII First Team and Ify went on to earn Capital One Academic All-America Third Team honors.
The 2014-15 season was one that Henderson would like to forget as injuries decimated the team. Overall, the Cardinals went 5-24 and lost nearly 100 total games to injuries including a starter for the season on the eve of the opening game.
The Cardinals record with Henderson as an assistant coach was 100-69 with a conference mark of 62-34. She was part of two straight 20-win seasons that saw the team win the Heartland Conference Tournament and advance to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2008-09 and win the Heartland Conference regular season title in 2009-10. In the team’s second year in the Lone Star Conference, she helped guide the program to an appearance in the conference tournament championship game.
During her two years as the women’s basketball GA from 2001-03, she helped the team reach its first-ever Heartland Conference Tournament semifinal. Meanwhile, in the classroom, she earned her Master’s degree in Education.
After her time as the graduate assistant, she worked as an assistant coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville for one season, then on to McLennan Community College for two years. With Henderson as the assistant coach, the High Lassies won 49 games and captured back-to-back conference championships.
From McLennan, she came back to Texas and took an assistant position at Texas State for a season before accepting the title of assistant coach at University of the Incarnate Word.
Prior to getting her master’s degree at UIW in 2003, she was the recruiting coordinator at Blinn College.
Before getting into coaching, she was a standout player at King High School in Corpus Christi and spent two seasons at Weatherford College in north Texas, leading her teams to two conference championships and getting as far as the NJCAA Final Four. From there, she transferred to Texas Lutheran University to finish out her college career and earned her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology in 2000.
Henderson is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and enjoys outdoor activities and spending time with her dog, Beau.
