DES MOINES — Head Drake University women’s basketball coach Allison Pohlman announced her coaching staff on Tuesday.

Assistant coach Nicci Hays Fort and Director of Basketball Operations Cortni Rush will remain on the Drake coaching staff while Pohlman also announced the hiring of Kayla Karius as an assistant coach.

Hays Fort joined the Bulldogs’ program before the 2016-17 season while Rush, who played at Drake from 2014-17, returned to her alma mater for the 2018-19 season.

Karius comes to Drake after three seasons on the coaching staff at the University of Wisconsin, including the associate head coach and the Badgers’ recruiting coordinator for her final season. Karius, who received a 2018 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Thirty Under 30 award, worked primarily with Wisconsin’s wing players.

Before her time in Madison, Wis., Karius spent two seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of South Dakota. Before her two seasons with the Coyotes, Karius was the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at the University of Sioux Falls for one season.

Karius (formerly Tetschlag) had an outstanding playing career for the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, helping lead Green Bay to four Horizon League titles and three NCAA Tournaments, including to the Sweet 16 in 2011.

Karius was named the Horizon League Co-Player of the Year in 2011 and received the Horizon League Cecil N. Colman Medal of Honor, the league’s most prestigious individual honor for outstanding achievement in academics, athletics and extracurricular activities. She was twice named first-team all-league, made the all-defensive team as a senior and was named the Sixth Player of the Year as a sophomore.