MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Desma Thomas Bateast has been named Head Women's Basketball Coach at St. Thomas University, announced Laura Courtley-Todd, Director of Athletics. Thomas Bateast comes to St. Thomas from nearby Florida International University where she served as Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the past seven seasons.

"I am extremely excited and blessed to be a part of the St. Thomas University family," said Thomas Bateast. "This is a wonderful opportunity to lead the STU Women's Basketball program to the next level of success.

"It is my goal to have our student-athletes competing at the highest level both on the court and in the classroom. I would like to thank Dr. Beatriz Robinson, Vice-President of Planning & Enrollment, Laura Courtley-Todd and the Search Committee members for putting their faith in me to be their next head coach."

A native of Miami, Thomas Bateast has deep local ties playing high school basketball at Miami American High School followed by a Hall of Fame career as a player at the University of Miami. She reinforced her South Florida ties during her coaching career at FIU and will now lead a Bobcat program that has relied heavily on local student-athletes.

"Coach Thomas Bateast is known for her recruitment and coaching skills. With this experience, we know she will be able to pick up where Coach Harmony left off and it will be a seamless transition," said Courtley-Todd. "As an alum of American High School and the University of Miami, along with her years of coaching at FIU, we feel she has a pulse on our community which will lend to her ability to recruit quality student-athletes."

Thomas Bateast takes over for Robin Harmony, the first women's basketball coach at STU when the program was revived in 2007. Harmony, now Head Coach for NCAA Division I Lamar University, led the Bobcats to a 131-46 (.732) overall record over the past six seasons and three trips to the NAIA National Championships. Ironically, Harmony was an assistant coach at Miami when Thomas Bateast played for the Hurricanes from 1992-97.

At FIU, Thomas Bateast was an integral part of Head Coach Cindy Russo's staff, helping guide the Panthers to three-consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championship semifinal appearances (2011-13) and two-straight Postseason WNIT bids (2012-13).

During Thomas Bateast's tenure, FIU amassed over 100 victories, including 62 Sun Belt Conference wins. Thomas Bateast coached six FIU student-athletes to a total of 10 All-SBC selections, including two-time All-American guard Jerica Coley who was the nation's leading scorer last season with an average of 26.3 points-per-game.

Prior to her arrival at FIU, Thomas Bateast served as an assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island for two seasons. During her time at URI, she helped guide the Rams to a second-place finish in the Atlantic 10 Conference East Division in 2004-05, the program's best finish since 1995-96.

Before joining the URI women's basketball staff, Thomas Bateast began her coaching career at Dillard University, an NAIA school in New Orleans, La. As Assistant Coach for Dillard for two seasons, she helped lead the Lady Blue Devins to back-to-back Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament crowns.

A two-time All-BIG EAST Third Team selection at the University of Miami, Thomas Bateast scored 1,284 points over her four seasons (1992-97) to rank 11th on the school's all-time list. The Hurricanes' all-time leader in both three-point field goals made and three-point field goals attempted, Thomas Bateast also holds UM's single-game record for most free throws made (18) and attempted (22). In 2012, she was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.

Upon graduating from Miami in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in business administration for sport management, Thomas Bateast joined the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA in 1997 and went on to play in Italy, Sweden and Turkey before returning to the United States to play for the Birmingham Power of the NWBL in 2002.

Thomas Bateast resides in Miami with her husband Wil, daughter Kayla Lee, and son Keion.