Elizabethtown College Athletics

It’s been more than four decades since Elizabethtown College went searching for it’s last women’s basketball coach. Needing to find the next leader of a storied program that has two NCAA Division III National Championships to its credit, E-town turned to one of the women instrumental in helping deliver a title to the College. Sherri (Kinsey) Gorman ’84 was chosen as the ninth coach in program history on Friday, March 23, 2012.

Gorman, who moved into a co-head coach role for the 2014-15 season along with Veronica Nolt, helped lead the team to 18 wins and a Landmark Conference Championships berth in its inaugural season in the conference.

In 2013-14, the Blue Jays enjoyed their first 20-win season since 2000-01 and earned the No. 2 seed in the Commonwealth Conference Championships. Taylor Kreider '14 blossomed under Gorman's instruction, capturing back-to-back All-CC First Team honors, CC Player of the Year in 2013-14 and D3hoops.com a spot on the All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Team as a senior.

Gorman took the reigns at her alma mater prior to the 2012-13 season and led Elizabethtown to a 15-11 record in her first season, which included a 69-68 victory over Susquehanna at Thompson Gymnasium in her debut game. E-town finished the season with an 11-7 mark in the Commonwealth Conference and advanced to the CC semifinals for the second straight season.

No stranger to winning big games as a player, Gorman notched her first significant collegiate coaching victory in a 62-57 upset at then nationally-ranked No. 5 Messiah on Jan. 23, 2013. The win snapped a 22-game overall losing streak and 11-game road losing streak for the Blue Jays against the Falcons. It was also the program's first victory over a ranked opponent since 2006.

Kreider and guard Kendra Beittel ’14 were both named All-Commonwealth Conference, with Kreider a First Team selection and Beittel an Honorable Mention pick. Kreider was also voted to the D3hoops.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Third Team.

In 2012-13, the Jays started off the season 1-6, but Gorman was able to rally the troops as her squad then won eight of their next nine games, including a seven-game win streak that nearly ran the entire month of January. They were victorious in their final three regular season games, giving them back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since 1999-2000/2000-2001.

In the seven seasons prior to her hiring at Elizabethtown, Gorman, a 1990 inductee into the Elizabethtown College Ira R. Herr Athletic Hall of Fame, coached the ladies of Lancaster Mennonite High School. Under her, the Blazers were a player in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) District 3 scene with regularity. Gorman led her 2007-08 squad to a Class AAA Championship, while her 2006-07 and 2009-10 teams both landed in the district final.

Success for Gorman has come not only on the sidelines, but on the hardwood as well. As a member of E-town women’s basketball teams from 1980-84, the former Sherri Kinsey netted 1,310 points, which still stand as the 11th highest career total in school history. Three seasons ended with Kodak/WBCA All-America honors, including 1983-84, when she was a First Team pick. Gorman is one of only two players (Page Lutz the other) in Elizabethtown women’s basketball history to be recognized as an All-American three times.

The standard of high academic achievement coupled with athletic excellence is something not lost on Gorman. She herself was a CoSIDA Academic All-American as a senior in 1983-84.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sherri Kinsey Gorman back to Elizabethtown College and Blue Jay Athletics,” said Latimore. “Few coaches can match Coach Gorman’s passion, energy, work ethic, and ability to lead and motivate young women. We know how fortunate we are to have her join our coaching staff and are confident that she will continue the rich women’s basketball tradition that Yonnie Kauffman started 42-years ago.”

Gorman directly contributed to that rich basketball tradition by helping lead the 1981-82 team to the school’s first ever NCAA Division III National Championship. The Blue Jays were crowned champs after defeating UNC-Greensboro 67-66 on their home court inside Thompson Gymnasium.

For Gorman, the chance to come back to her alma mater was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “When Nancy [Latimore] called me, I think her words were ‘How would you like to become the next head women’s basketball coach at Elizabethtown College,’” recalled Gorman. “I said I’d absolutely love to.”

The Lancaster-Lebanon League’s Girls’ Basketball Coach of the Year in 2007-08 and 2008-09, Gorman explained that it was tough to find the words to explain what this job means to her. “It’s such an awesome feeling to come back home where I had such a great experience, such a great opportunity. We had a lot of success when I was here and I’m still close with Coach Kauffman and a lot of my former teammates.”

Gorman served one season as an assistant under Kauffman back in 2002-03 and played a major role in taking the program to elite status. She is eager to continue building on that tradition. “To take over the program from a coach I played for is just unbelievable. It’s amazing. I look forward to the opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”

Gorman and her husband, Blaine, have two children; daughter, Kelsey and son, Justin. They live close to the Elizabethtown campus.