Michael Phelps joins Kentucky State University after serving as the head women’s basketball coach at King University from 2021-24. During his tenure, Phelps emphasized player development, academic achievement, offensive efficiency and defensive intensity.
Under his leadership, King produced a first-team All-Conference Carolinas selection and 10 Academic All-Conference Carolinas honorees. The Tornado also ranked among the conference leaders in scoring offense, free-throw percentage, 3-point field-goal percentage and turnovers forced. Phelps’ teams recorded several of the top statistical performances in program history in scoring, shooting, rebounding, assists and steals.
Before taking over the women’s program, Phelps spent three seasons with King’s men’s basketball staff from 2018-21. He helped guide the Tornado to a 23-7 record and the Conference Carolinas regular-season championship during the 2019-20 season. King earned a national ranking and recorded the program’s best winning percentage of its NCAA era.
Phelps also served three games as interim head coach that season after the head coach sustained an injury. He guided King to a double-overtime road victory in his first game in that role, helping the Tornado remain atop the conference standings.
During the historic 2019-20 campaign, Jordan Floyd led NCAA Division II in scoring and was named the D2CCA Ron Lenz National Player of the Year. Floyd also earned first-team All-America, all-region and Conference Carolinas Player of the Year honors. James Brown was named the Conference Carolinas Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Justin Frazier ranked 13th nationally and led the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio.
In 2020-21, Phelps helped King rank 14th nationally in scoring at 85.2 points per game. The Tornado also led Conference Carolinas in rebounding and ranked fifth nationally with 15.4 offensive rebounds per game.
Before arriving at King, Phelps gained coaching and player-development experience through basketball camps at Michigan, Xavier, Ohio State, Virginia and Cedarville. He served as a volunteer assistant coach at Urbana University and Cedarville University, a player development instructor at Elev8 Sports Institute and an assistant varsity boys basketball coach at Emmanuel Christian Academy.
Phelps began his collegiate playing career at Clark Community College before transferring to Henderson State University. He helped Henderson State win the Gulf South Conference West Division regular-season championship, finish as the conference tournament runner-up and advance to the second round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship.
Phelps earned a Bachelor of Science in sport and community recreation and a Master of Science in sports administration from Henderson State. He and his wife, Kiana, have three children: Octavia, Marquis and Michael II.
