Kianna Ray, an Austin, Tx., native and lifelong Texan, moved to the Boston area for the first time last September. After initially interviewing for Newman's head coaching position last year, Ray fell in love with the region. But she had to bide her time for the next NEPSAC hiring cycle.
So Ray, a former All-Big 12 guard at TCU with coaching stops at her alma mater and Baylor, made a brief and surprising career change. She worked for Boston Scientific as a clinical field representative, starting in medical device sales and working up to running her own device check clinics for cardiac implants. In a short time, Ray learned how to have in-depth conversations about the heart with cardiologists. On the side, she coached fifth and sixth graders with the Bay State Jaguars, ingraining herself in a new basketball community.
"Going from coaching to that was pretty insane, especially because I have no medical background," she said. "But it also just kind of was such a cool thing for me, because I'm like, 'Wow, whatever I do put my mind to, I really can do it.'"
That unconventional growth helps Ray enter her new job, as head coach of Dexter Southfield girls basketball, with renewed confidence.
"I just immediately felt like my vision and the school's vision were incredibly aligned, and the baseline for that was just their overall care of the holistic development of these kids," she said. "At a place like Dexter, there is incredible athletic opportunity, but they put so much weight into the other aspects of campus and being a student here that you have to care about every part of being at Dexter and what that means. And that is really important to me."
Ray graduated from TCU in 2020 with 1,170 points and latched onto the Horned Frogs as a graduate assistant and video coordinator. She also spent parts of two seasons at Baylor in another unique role, as Director of Recruiting and Player Influence. Ray oversaw logistics for the Baylor coaching staff when they hit the recruiting trail, coordinating travel and scheduling for live period events. Then she managed prospective recruits' official and unofficial campus visits and helped with NCAA NIL compliance questions.
Ray believes the two-sided responsibilities will serve her well, both as a coach aiming to prepare her players for college opportunities, and a now-prep school recruiter herself.
"I have spent the last five, six years being around and evaluating really strong, high-level talent. I have my own list of things that I'm looking for when I'm in a gym, and you know, there are certain things that will get you written off really quick in my book, and all of those are not skill-related characteristics. Are you coachable? Are you a bad teammate? How do you respond when you're down 20? How do you respond when you're up 20? What does it look like when you're walking off the floor to the bench?
"All of those things are things that I, as a coach and as an evaluator of talent and a recruiter, am looking at. Those are areas where I can tell our kids, 'Hey, even if you're not scoring the ball the best that you can, coaches are looking at X, Y, Z, and you need to make sure that those things are buttoned up. So I think that I have already a lot of credibility with (my players)."
Ray most recently worked with Southwest Select, an Adidas 3SSB grassroots program, before moving to Boston. She's already making an effort to connect further, popping in at local AAU events like the New England Spring Showdown in April.
"Me going to that event and and running around was largely just to shake hands with their parents and to establish a connection with them right from the jump, and doing that in a way that was taking time out of my day to show up for their kid," Ray said. "You can say all these things, and they sound great, but are you actually doing them? And so (I'm) just being accessible and showing up for them."
Dexter Southfield ended the winter as our eighth-ranked NEPSAC program and is a consistent Class AAA contender. The roster remains loaded on paper. Five-star 2028 wing Ella Peper (Newton, Mass.) headlines a core that includes top 2029 center Avery Bollin (Raynham, Mass.) and a plethora of talented guards and wings.
"I'm benefiting on the fact that there's a little bit more of a sense of urgency, because this group has been the young group for a while, but this year that's shifting a bunch," Ray said. "A lot of them will be upperclassmen. We will have a more upperclassmen-dominant roster. And so I think that that will play in my favor a little bit more than what the past two coaches got to experience, because there's that element of, 'Hey, the time is ticking, and you guys haven't done all that you set out to accomplish here, individually or as a team, and we've got to get it done right now."
But this is also the program's third head coach in three seasons after moving on from Kristen Compopiano and just one year under Tammy Millsaps. Dexter has a 28-30 combined record in the last two seasons, and Ray hopes to reshape the culture and success.
"This group needs connection. We're going to play in a very connected way. But all of that points back to how our relationships are off the court, and I think that I have to constantly be someone that shows them that I care so deeply about them. I don't just care about their athletic ability. I care about what's going on in their classes. I care about, What's the paper you're writing? I care about, what's going on at home, how's brother and sister doing, how are parents doing?
"Just remembering little details about their life and bringing them up in a later conversation goes a really long way. It shows them that I'm listening. It shows them that I care. And so I immediately sensed the need — that's not to say that there was a lack of, or to speak ill on either of the previous coaches, because I'm not here to do that — I am just saying, from me stepping in, that is where the needs were: the connection department."
