Chelby Koker begins her first season with the Purdue Northwest Women's Basketball program as assistant coach in 2025-26.
Chelby joins Purdue Northwest after an extensive collegiate and coaching experience, she combines technical expertise with strong leadership to help athletes reach their full potential.
Since 2021, Chelby has operated CK Basketball Training, where she designs and conducts individualized and group workouts focused on enhancing basketball fundamentals, athletic performance, and game IQ. Her training philosophy centers on discipline, efficiency, and long-term athlete development.
Chelby has also served as the Lead Coach for the Shoreland Lutheran High School Girls Basketball Camp since 2019. She initially returned each summer to assist former coach Holly Bahr in organizing and instructing camp activities for players ages 4 to 13. Following Coach Bahr’s retirement after the 2024–2025 season, Chelby assumed full leadership of the week-long camp, overseeing all scheduling, logistics, on-court instruction, and competitive programming.
In 2025, Chelby expanded her impact internationally as a youth coach for the Baloncesto in USA (BIU) Camp, hosted by the Milwaukee School of Engineering. There, she led players from Spain, Croatia, Germany, and Mexico in practices and competitive games designed to foster both skill development and cultural exchange.
Her coaching experience also includes several years with the Northern Illinois University (NIU) women’s basketball program, where she contributed to the Women’s Coaches Clinic from 2022 to 2024 and served as a camp coach and skills leader at the NIU Women’s Elite Camp from 2019 to 2024. In these roles, she facilitated clinic operations, demonstrated drills, and collaborated with collegiate coaching staff to evaluate and instruct prospective student-athletes.
As a member of the NIU Women’s Basketball team, Chelby was a team captain and an exemplary student-athlete. She was named to the NIU Dean’s List from 2019 to 2025, earned Mid-American Conference (MAC) Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors four times, and received multiple All-MAC distinctions, including Second Team (2021, 2023), Third Team (2025), and Honorable Mention (2022).
Chelby earned both her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics and her Master of Science in Data Analytics from Northern Illinois University. She also holds Human Kinetics Coach Education certifications in First Aid and Illinois High School Coaching.
