‘Samford is a special place’: Bulldogs name new women’s basketball coach after Carley Kuhns steps down

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Samford Athletic Director Martin Newton announced Friday that he is promoting the team’s associate head coach after Carley Kuhns stepped down as head coach just a day earlier.

“We are excited to promote Matt Wise to the position of head women’s basketball coach,” Newton said. “During his time on the staff here, he has shown that he is ready to take this next step in his career. I look forward to seeing him continue to build a winning program here at Samford.”

Having spent three years with the Bulldogs, Wise was involved in nearly every area of the program under former coach Kuhns.

“Samford is a special place where people grow athletically, academically, spiritually and as overall people,” Wise said. “Add to that a connected community and you really do have a family. We look forward to building Samford women’s basketball and winning championships, as has been done across this department. My wife Katie and I understand how fortunate we are to raise our children in this community and be part of Bulldog Nation.”

Before coming to Samford, Wise spent time at Alabama, ETSU, Wyoming, and Florida. He was a four-year letterman at Transylvania University from 2007 through 2011.

He takes the program over for Carley Kuhns, who won multiple Southern Conference regular=season championships and the 2020 SoCon Tournament Championship. She was named the SoCon Coach of the year in her first two seasons at Samford while earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2020 before the it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, Wise will look to lead the team to new heights.

“Now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” he said.

The Bulldogs finished the 2024-25 season 12-19 (7-7 in the Southern Conference), leading the conference in three-point percentage and ranked third in points per game. Freshman Claire Johnson averaged 12.2 points per game on her way to being named second team All-SoCon. Junior Emily Bowman was named to the to the All-Defensive team.

Matt Wise will be introduced as the head coach at a press conference on Wednesday, April 23 at 11:15 a.m. at the Pete Hanna Center.

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