Staff Directory

Karen Lange

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:

Karen Lange joined the Duke women’s basketball staff in April of 2022 and serves as an assistant coach with the Blue Devils.

In four seasons with the Blue Devils, Lange has helped Duke compile a 104-36 record, win two ACC Championships and make four NCAA Tournament appearances, including consecutive Elite Eight finishes. She has also been instrumental in helping orchestrate Duke’s stout defense the past two years.

The Blue Devils have boasted one of the nation’s most elite defenses during her time in Durham. Duek has ranked in the top five in the ACC in field goal percentage defense, scoring defense, steals per game and turnovers forced per game in each of the past four seasons, including leading the league and ranking second nationally in scoring defense during the 2022-23 campaign. Nationally, the Blue Devils’ defense in the top fivein HerHoopStats defensive rating for the past four seasons.

She has helped coach multiple players to All-ACC honors, most recently Ashlon Jackson to All-ACC First Team recognition. Jackson went on to be drafted 23rd in the WNBA Draft and ultimately signed to a contract by the Connecticut Sun. During the 2023-24 season, Lange mentored Duke freshman Oluchi Okananwa (2024 ACC Sixth Player of the Year, All-ACC Freshman Team) and Reigan Richardson (All-ACC Second Team). In 2022-23, Lange helped Celeste Taylor capture ACC Defensive Player of the Year, All-ACC First Team and All-Defensive Team accolades and be named a Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year Finalist.

Prior to joining the Duke staff, Lange spent seven seasons at the University of Georgia as associate head coach, where she helped lead the Bulldogs to 140 victories, a .651 winning percentage and 64 wins in SEC play. Lange and the Georgia squad advanced to four NCAA Tournaments, earning top-four seeds in 2018 and 2021.

Lange played a crucial role in developing Georgia’s guards during her tenure - a group that finished near the top of the SEC in assists and among the league’s best in assist-to-turnover ratio in each of her years. She helped lead the Bulldogs to a second-place ledger in the 2017-18 SEC standings and a spot in the 2021 SEC Tournament finals.

Prior to her arrival at Georgia, Lange spent four seasons at Charlotte, including two years as associate head coach (2013-15), where she helped lead the 49ers to the 2013 WNIT Round of 16. In addition, she served as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech for seven seasons from 1997-2004 and at Kansas for six seasons from 2004-10, helping guide the Hokies to the program’s first NCAA Sweet 16 in 1999, and the Jayhawks to a runner-up finish in the 2009 WNIT. Lange was head coach at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, during the 2010-11 campaign.

Lange has enjoyed stellar success recruiting and developing perimeter players throughout her coaching tenure. She brought consensus high school All-Americans such as Dawn Chriss and Angel Goodrich to Virginia Tech and Kansas, respectively. Such talent continued to blossom under Lange’s tutelage. Her work with guards has produced three All-Americans (Lisa Witherspoon at Virginia Tech and Goodrich and Danielle McCray at Kansas), one freshman All-American (Carrie Mason at Virginia Tech), five conference end-of-season award winners, 21 all-conference honorees and three future WNBA players (Kerri Gardin at Virginia Tech and Goodrich and McCray at Kansas).

Lange was a standout point guard at Iowa from 1992-96 as the former Karen Clayton. She was a teammate of current Duke associate head coach Tia Jackson during their collegiate days with the Hawkeyes, which included a trip to the program’s first NCAA Final Four in 1993. Lange was a member of Iowa teams that reached three NCAA Tournaments, following the 1993 Final Four appearance with trips to the 1994 second round and 1996 NCAA Sweet 16. She also helped Iowa capture Big Ten Regular Season Championships in 1993 and 1996. She graduated from Iowa with honors in 1996, receiving her bachelor’s degree in exercise science.