Talia Kahrs enters her third season as Head Women's Basketball Coach at Fort Hays State University in 2025-26. She was named the seventh head coach in program history in the spring of 2023 after serving as the primary assistant coach for 11 years. Kahrs has been associated with the women's basketball program for each of the last 16 seasons, including playing for the Tigers for three seasons (2008-11), serving as a student assistant coach for one year (2011-12), working as the assistant coach for Tony Hobson for 11 seasons (2012-23) and working as the head coach for one year (2023-present).
Kahrs holds a career record of 53-13 as head coach. Her athletes have earned two All-America picks, two All-Region selections, seven All-MIAA picks, two MIAA Player of the Year honors, one MIAA Defensive Player of the Year honor, three MIAA All-Defensive Team picks, two MIAA Ken B. Jones Awards, three MIAA All-Tournament Team selections and one MIAA Championship Tournament Most Outstanding Player recognition. Academic awards for the Tigers include 24 MIAA Academic Honor Roll mentions, six MIAA Scholar-Athlete Awards, five MIAA Academic Excellence Awards, eight CSC Academic All-District picks and one CSC Academic All-American.
Kahrs was a finalist for the WBCA Coach of the Year Award in 2024-25 after leading FHSU to a record of 28-5. The Tigers surpassed 20 wins for the 14th year in a row, the longest active streak in Division II and the fifth-longest across all levels of NCAA women's basketball. Fort Hays State reached the MIAA Championship title game and the NCAA Central Region semifinals for a second year in a row. FHSU finished the year ranked 12th in the WBCA DII Coaches Poll after climbing as high as No. 3 earlier in the season. The Tigers had five All-MIAA picks, including MIAA Player of the Year Katie DeGarmo and MIAA Defensive Player of the Year Olivia Hollenbeck. DeGarmo was also named an All-American by the WBCA and the D2CCA in addition to winning the MIAA Ken B. Jones Award for a second year in a row, which is given to the top student-athlete in the conference across all sports. The team posted a GPA of 3.685, finishing just outside the top 25 in the country. Eleven Tigers were listed on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, with four taking home the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, two receiving the MIAA Academic Excellence Award, four being named CSC Academic All-District and one achieving CSC Academic All-American status.
Kahrs led the Tigers to the NCAA Division II Central Region semifinals in her first season as head coach in 2023-24, turning in a record of 25-8. Fort Hays State reached the MIAA Championship Tournament title game after finishing in a tie for second in the league standings. The Tigers were ranked as high as No. 10 in the WBCA DII Coaches Poll. She coached a pair of All-MIAA performers in Katie Wagner and Olivia Hollenbeck, with Wagner being named MIAA Player of the Year, first team All-MIAA, MIAA All-Defensive Team, MIAA Championship Tournament Most Outstanding Player, D2CCA All-Central Region first team, WBCA All-America honorable mention and the winner of the MIAA Ken B. Jones Award. The team posted the top GPA in the MIAA, finishing 13th in Division II with a team GPA of 3.755. Thirteen of her players were listed on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, three earned the MIAA Academic Excellence Award, two received the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award and four were named CSC Academic All-District honorees.
The Tryon, Neb. native came to Hays from Hastings College, where she redshirted her first year out of high school in 2007-08 and then transferred to be part of Tony Hobson's first team at FHSU in 2008-09. Competing at McPherson County High School during her prep career, Kahrs was nominated for McDonald's High School All-America consideration. She was the North Platte Telegraph Area Player of the Year multiple times and was an all-state selection in both basketball and volleyball. Kahrs (formerly Miller) played 52 games in three seasons for FHSU, but unfortunately saw portions of her collegiate playing career affected by injuries. She decided to become a student assistant coach in her final year of college (2011-12) and has been on the sidelines helping coach the Tigers into one of the most powerful programs in NCAA Division II ever since.
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Kahrs helped FHSU become the winningest team in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in her 12 years as an assistant or student assistant, guiding the Tigers to a record of 293-78. FHSU won at least 20 games in each of those seasons, including three seasons with 30 or more victories. Kahrs helped the Tigers to six MIAA Championships, including four regular season (2014-15, 2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22) and two tournament (2019, 2022) titles as an assistant. She also helped the Tigers to the No. 1 seed in the Central Region of the NCAA Tournament four times and the Tigers have been in the NCAA Tournament seven of the last nine years. They were regional finalists three times in that span (2015, 2019, 2022).
The Tigers held the No. 1 ranking in the WBCA Top 25 Poll five times during Kahrs' time as an assistant, including twice during the 2015-16 season and three times during the 2021-22 season. The Tigers reached the Top 5 of the poll six out of the last eight years. Even with the program's great success on the court, the Tigers have been very successful in the classroom as well, ranking among the top 25 teams in cumulative GPA nine times since 2011-12. FHSU owned the best team GPA in NCAA Division II for 2021-22.
The Tigers garnered 42 All-MIAA selections in Kahrs' time as an assistant. She helped coach three players to All-America status in that span, including Kate Lehman, Tatyana Legette and Jaden Hobbs. Lehman was the 2015 MIAA Player of the Year and three-time Defensive Player of the Year while earning All-America First Team honors by four organizations and BennettRank.com NCAA Division II Player of the Year honors as a senior. Tatyana Legette was the MIAA Player of the Year in 2019 while earning a pair of All-American honors. Jaden Hobbs was a WBCA All-America selection in 2021.
Kahrs earned a bachelor's degree in Health and Human Performance with an emphasis in Teaching and Coaching from Fort Hays State University in 2012 before completing a master of science degree in Health and Human Performance at FHSU in 2015. She resides in Hays with her daughter, Malaki.
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