Former WNBA Draft Pick and University of Nebraska star Kiera Hardy joined the Broncs as an assistant coach during the summer of 2012.
A third round pick (39th overall) of the Connecticut Sun in 2007, Hardy played in one pre-season game, scoring nine points with two rebounds and two assists against the Seattle Storm. She went on to play professionally for two seasons with Haukar, in Iceland, and Stackonice, in the Czech Republic.
Hardy was drafted out of the University of Nebraska, where she played all four years, including three as a starter and two as a teammate of current Broncs assistant coach LaToya Howell.
Hardy was the team captain in 2006-07, when she was also a Naismith Trophy candidate, a Lowe’s Senior Class Award candidate, a Kodak/WBCA Region V All-American, and a Street & Smith’s Preseason Honorable Mention All-American.
A three-time First-Team All-Big 12 selection and a four-time Big 12 player of the week, Hardy graduated as the Huskers’ career leader in three-pointers with 267. In 2004-05, Hardy led the Big XII in conference scoring at 20.5 points per game while tying the program single-season and single-game records for three-pointers with 85 and seven respectively. That led Hardy to get the opportunity to be a participant during the 2005 Team USA trials.
Hardy got into coaching shortly after concluding her playing career. She spent last season as an assistant at Penn Valley Community College. During 2010-11, Hardy was the head coach of the JV girls basketball team and assistant coach of the varsity team at O’Hara High School. Prior to that, Hardy was an assistant coach at Park University in 2009-10, and a volunteer coach for the freshman girls basketball team at Manhattan Senior High School in 2008. Hardy has additional coaching experience as a private instructor and by participating in Nebraska women’s basketball camps every year from 2004 through 2007. She also served as a counselor, role model, teacher and activities coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club during the summer of 2008.
Hardy graduated from Nebraska in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in family and child development and a minor in sociology.
