Troy Howell will enter his third season as the head coach of the Northwest women's basketball program in 2021-22.
In two seasons, the Ingomar native has totaled a career record of 22-21 (.512) and a division record of 11-15 (.423), which includes back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Despite many challenges brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic (including several schedule alterations), Howell led the Lady Rangers to five wins and the second round of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament. It marked Northwest's second consecutive postseason appearance since Howell's appointment as head coach following the 2018-19 season.
In his first season as head coach, Howell guided the Lady Rangers to their best season since 2014-15, finishing 17-10 overall with a runner-up finish in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament. Despite a third place finish in the MACJC North Division, Howell's team marched through the postseason with two upsets against regular season division champion East Mississippi and south division foe Mississippi Gulf Coast. Only nationally-ranked Jones College stopped the Lady Rangers in the Region 23 championship game, keeping Northwest one win away from its first NJCAA National Tournament bid since 2005-06.
Howell coached both programs in 2011-12, in his first season, in which the programs combined for a 20-26 record. With the women's program, Northwest has posted a 103-70 overall record, including 57-39 mark in the north division, and advanced to the postseason five times.
The Lady Rangers finished as north division runner-up in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and won the title during the 2012-13 season. Northwest won 16 games in 2015-16, finished as division runner-up, was nationally-ranked and advanced to both the MACJC and NJCAA Region 23 Tournaments.Â
A total of 23 players have continued their careers at the four-year level under Howell's watch, including Kayla Freeman and Tamarah Sykes (Mississippi College), Kayla Bradley (Arkansas-Monticello), Destiny Gardner (North Alabama), Kelsey Brown (Belhaven University), Aspriona Gilbert and Jacquelyn Brooks (Delta State) and Sara Lytle (Union University)Â from the past seven seasons.Â
Not only have the Lady Rangers performed on the court, but they have done it off the court as well. Northwest posted a school-best 3.69 team GPA during the 2018-19 season to be recognized as an All-Academic team by the MACJC, NJCAA and Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Before being named head coach, Howell spent eight seasons as an assistant under all-time winningest coach and Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Famer Don Edwards. Edwards spent 32 seasons commanding the Lady Rangers, amassing a career record of 468-335 and a winning percentage of .583.
Prior to Northwest, Howell spent five seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Rust College, an NCAA Division III member (non-scholarship) that competes in the Independent Southeast Region. He also served as the head track and baseball coach during his tenure.
Prior to Rust, Howell was a teacher and coach at Wooddale High School for one season and also spent a year at White Station as the head coach of the varsity girls team and as an assistant coach on the track team. His first collegiate coaching job was an assistant on the Southern Mississippi women’s basketball staff during the 2003-04 season.
A familiar face around Senatobia, Howell was a physical education teacher and coach at Senatobia High School from 1993-2002. He led the Warrior boys basketball team to a division and district championship in 2002, boys tennis team to a state title in 1999 and softball team to a state title in 1995.
A 2001 graduate of Northwest, Howell received his bachelor’s from the University of Memphis in 2003, where he also served as a manager on the women’s basketball team.
In addition to basketball, Howell also coached the Northwest men's and women's tennis team from 2013-17 before the programs were discontinued at the end of the 2017 season.
