Ebony Tanner enters her third season as head coach of the Elizabeth City State women’s basketball program in 2026-27. Through her first two seasons with the Lady Vikings, Tanner has compiled a 13-38 record while continuing to build and develop the program against competitive CIAA competition.
During the 2025-26 season, ECSU finished 5-22 overall and 2-14 in conference play, with highlights including non-conference wins over Converse and UNC Pembroke, as well as CIAA victories against Lincoln (Pa.). The Lady Vikings showed growth in key areas, including offensive balance with four players averaging over eight points per game and a strong presence on the boards led by CIAA All-Rookie Selection Tionna Pettus (6.2 rebounds per game).
Prior to ECSU, Tanner served as head coach at Saint Augustine’s, where she posted a 33-45 record and led the Falcons to their first winning season since 2010-11 in 2023-24. Her teams showed consistent improvement in CIAA play and were nationally recognized for defensive pressure, ranking among the top 25 in turnovers forced in multiple seasons. Tanner coached All-CIAA and All-Rookie selections during her tenure.
Before returning to the CIAA as a head coach, Tanner spent four seasons as the top assistant at Shaw University and also held an assistant coaching position at the University of Hartford, helping guide the Hawks to an America East semifinal appearance. She also spent eight seasons on staff at her alma mater, the University of Richmond, contributing to three 20-win seasons and six WNIT appearances.
A Garner, North Carolina native, Tanner was a standout student-athlete at Richmond, earning All-Atlantic 10 honors twice while finishing her career ranked among the program’s top 10 in rebounds, blocks, field goal percentage, and scoring. She went on to play professionally overseas in Israel and Greece. Tanner earned her bachelor’s degree in Interpersonal Communication and Speech Rhetoric from Richmond in 2003.
