Friday Feature - Hays Fort's Experience Builds On Bulldogs' Program

Thanks to 22 years in the coaching industry, assistant coach Nicci Hays Fort has brought a wealth of experience to the Drake women's basketball program.

After finishing her basketball and softball playing careers at Culver-Stockton College, an NAIA school in Canton, Mo., Hays Fort accepted an offer in 1998 to start the women's basketball program at the US Merchant Marine Academy.

It was her first step among many in working to grow women's basketball. Hays Fort served a stint as an assistant coach at Nicholls State before becoming head coach at Barry, a Division II school in Miami Shores, Fla. From there, Hays Fort was an associate head coach at DePaul and the head coach at Colgate. In July of…