From tragedy to triumph: Inside ‘divine’ week of Terry Nooner’s hiring at Wichita State

Standing at the foot of his father’s bed in a Kansas City nursing home, Terry Nooner Jr. yearned for a sign.

A sign that the man who never failed to make him laugh, the man who he was named after, the man he just wanted to make proud, still recognized him. The medicine prolonging Terry Sr.’s life made him loopy and sometimes forgetful of names.

But in this moment, just for a moment, Terry Sr. seemed to have a moment of clarity.

“I asked him if he knew who I was and his eyes were perfectly locked on me and he said, ‘You’re about to be the big dog. I’m so proud of you. And this is just the beginning,’” Nooner Jr. said. “And right after that, he went back to being loopy.”

Little did Nooner Jr. know it at the time, but that moment, which happened April 6, was prophetic.

Five days later, the women’s basketball head coaching position opened at Wichita State, a job that Nooner Jr., who was the associate head coach at Kansas, had long desired. Exactly one week later, Nooner Jr. completed his first Zoom interview with WSU.

Immediately following the interview, Nooner Jr. drove to the Kansas City nursing home to meet his sister, Tanesha Nooner Ford, and spend a few hours with their father. Before they left, Nooner Ford leaned in and whispered the news of her brother’s interview earlier that day.

“I think your son is about to become a head coach,” Nooner Ford said with a smile.

Terry Sr. was sapped of his strength to communicate, but his lips moved ever so slightly upon hearing the news — they interpreted that as his way of saying how proud he was of his namesake.

One hour later, Terry Sr. died in the nursing home.

Four days later, Nooner Jr. landed his dream job as head coach of the Wichita State women’s basketball team.

“I called my sister right after I was offered the job and we were both like, (my dad) saw it before we saw it,” Nooner Jr. said. “Before he passed, he told me that I made him proud and that meant everything to me.”

“This all feels so divine,” Nooner Ford said at her brother’s introductory press conference at Koch Arena on Thursday. “I had been thinking about (my brother) as we were going through this time and I just felt like he needed something good, like a big moment to be able to help him get through us losing our dad. It feels like our father kind of spoke this into existence, that’s why it feels so divine.”

Nooner Jr. shared the story with the players on the WSU women’s basketball team and WSU administration in the locker room before his introductory press conference out on the floor inside Koch Arena. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room by the time he finished.

He also told The Eagle that he thought he bombed the initial interview with WSU athletic director Kevin Saal and senior associate athletic director Scott Barnhart, because his mind was still focused on his father’s health.

“I remember telling my wife and sister that I really didn’t feel good about the interview,” Nooner Jr. said. “I was really kind of down on myself because I didn’t think I was all the way locked in because I was dealing with all of that stuff.”

Saal said the contrary: Nooner Jr. was personable, articulate and decisive in his vision for the program. He was already a top candidate before the interview and after speaking with him, Saal said it was “abundantly clear he needed to be our next head coach.”

Nooner Jr. even introduced his wife, Tracy, and their three children — his son is named Terry III — on the Zoom call.

“That was definitely unique,” Saal said with a laugh. “I’ve never had one of those in an interview.”

Thursday marked the triumphant culmination of a decade-long grind to steadily work his way up in the Division I women’s basketball coaching world. Nooner Jr. has long fancied himself an underdog, dating back to his playing days when he arrived on the Kansas men’s basketball team as a walk-on and left as a team captain under legendary coach Roy Williams.

In what has been a time of grief, Nooner Jr.’s day of celebration was a welcomed escape for the family.

“This definitely feels bittersweet,” Nooner Ford said. “Our dad would absolutely be so proud right now. He would be saying, ‘I told you so.’ But we have so much excitement for (my brother) and so much joy and so much pride when I think about all of the years he’s put in and now this is finally happening. It couldn’t come at a more perfect time.”