Katie Abrahamson Henderson

Early years

Abrahamson-Henderson attended Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, graduating in 1985. She was a basketball player, averaging 44 points per game, and that earned her a place in the Washington Warriors Hall of Fame, where she was inducted in 1992. She was named an All-American to both the Parade and USA Today All-American teams, and ranked as one of the top five basketball players in the nation as a senior. She was also on the swim team, and considered attending college as a swimmer, but instead chose to focus on basketball. While in high school, she competed in the Iowa State Championships and placed first in the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard free-style and the freestyle relay.

College

Many schools recruited Abrahamson-Henderson but she eventually chose to attended the University of Georgia, to play for Andy Landers, now a Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach. In her freshman year, 1986, she helped the team win the Southeastern Conference title. She played one more year at Georgia, but then chose to transfer back to her home state and play at Iowa for Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer. She played for the Hawkeyes for two years, advancing to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen as a senior. Abrahamson-Henderson completed her studies at Iowa, receiving a B.S. in physical education and sports administration in 1990. After graduating from Iowa, she attended Duquesne University, where she earned an M.S. in education in 1992. She spent one year playing professional basketball in New Zealand.

Coaching career

While playing basketball in high school and college, Abrahamson-Henderson had no interest in pursuing a coaching career, expecting instead to become a fitness trainer or run a fitness club. However, while she was at graduate school at Duquesne University, one of the assistant coaches at Iowa became the head coach at Duquesne and talked her into being a graduate assistant coach for the team.

She then went to the University of Maine to be an assistant coach for two years under Joanne McCallie. After Maine, she spent six years as an assistant coach at Iowa State under Bill Fennelly, working alongside Brenda Frese who would go on to become the head coach at Maryland. When McCallie took over the head coaching position at Michigan State, she persuaded Abrahamson-Henderson to join her as an associate head coach.

Abrahamson-Henderson took her first head coaching position at Missouri State (then Southwest Missouri State). She helped lead the team to two regular-season championships in the Missouri Valley Conference as well as three postseason conference championships. The team made three appearances in the NCAA tournament and won the WNIT in 2005. Following the 2007 season she unexpectedly resigned, and went on to accept an assistant coaches position at the University of Washington. After a single year at Washington, Indiana's head coach Felisha Legette-Jack hired her as the associate head coach.

In 2010, the University of Albany persuaded Abrahamson-Henderson to become the head coach where she remained for six years. The Albany team had a losing record in each of the five prior years, but Abrahamson-Henderson improve the team 16–14 in her first year. In her second year, the team improved to finish second in the America East conference and earn a trip to the NCAA tournament. The team finished first or tied for first in the conference each of the successive four years and won the conference tournament championship every year. The team earned an invitation to the NCAA in each year and in 2016, facing fifth-seeded Florida, upset them 61–59.

In 2016, the University of Central Florida persuaded Abrahamson-Henderson to become the new head coach.