Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Women's Basketball Coach
- Email:
- cldavidson@ysu.edu
- Alma Mater:
- Michigan State, 2008
- Experience:
- Sixth Season
Youngstown State alumna and Youngstown native Courtney Davidson is in her third stint as a member of the women's basketball coaching staff. She rejoined her hometown program in April 2024 as an assistant coach alongside Melissa Jackson.
Davidson serves as Youngstown State’s offensive coordinator, working closely with Jackson on spearheading the Penguins’ offense. She is the position coach for YSU’s point guards, and she is the coordinator for the team’s mentoring program and community outreach. Davidson is also the program’s point person in the areas of compliance, NIL and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Most recently in 2025-26, Davidson helped Youngstown State put together one of the most successful and memorable seasons in program history. The Penguins earned 25 victories and an appearance in the 2026 Postseason WNIT. YSU concluded the 2025-26 season with a 25-10 record, posting the program’s highest win total since the 1997-98 campaign. Youngstown State reached the championship game of the Horizon League Tournament for the first time since joining the conference in 2001-02, and it went on to reach the Super 16 round of the Postseason WNIT.
Individually, Davidson coached sixth-year senior point guard Casey Santoro to a career year in her first season as a Penguin in 2025-26. Santoro, who transferred to Youngstown State for her final collegiate season, earned the Coach DiGregorio MVP honor after leading the Penguins in points, assists and minutes in 2025-26. The native of Bellevue, Ohio, set the school record for most minutes in a season, and she was named to the All-Horizon League Second Team, the Horizon League All-Tournament Team and the College Sports Communicators 2025-26 Academic All-District Team.
In Davidson's first year back in Youngstown in 2024-25, the Penguins played their best basketball down the stretch of the season, winning three of their final four games of the regular season and earning a passionate 73-70 victory over Cleveland State on Senior Day. Youngstown State finished the campaign with 12 victories while working in 10 newcomers and battling through several season-ending injuries at key positions.
Davidson was previously YSU's Director of Operations in 2013-14 and an assistant coach in 2017-18 and 2018-19 on John Barnes' staff. She returned to Youngstown after serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Hartford, Loyola Maryland and Fordham, and she has 11 years of Division I coaching experience.
The Penguins played in postseason tournaments and advanced to the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament in each of Davidson's two seasons as an assistant coach in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
In 2017-18, YSU won nine of its final 11 contests of the regular season to earn a bid to the Women’s Basketball Invitational. The Penguins set a school record for consecutive conference road victories by winning their final six Horizon League road contests of the season. By the end of the season, YSU’s RPI had jumped 113 spots from Jan. 19, which was the second-best improvement in the country over that span.
In 2018-19, Youngstown State went 22-10 and earned an at-large berth into the Women’s NIT while setting a program record with 16 home victories. Behind seniors Sarah Cash, Alison Smolinski and Melinda Trimmer, the Penguins went 13-5 in Horizon League games and beat every conference team in the same season for the first time in program history. Youngstown State led the Horizon League in field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, assists per game, assist-to-turnover ratio and 3-pointers per game.
Davidson helped point guard Indiya Benjamin finish her career as one of the top players in program history, holding career records for assists, games played, games started and minutes. In 2017-18, Benjamin led the Horizon League with 176 assists, and her 5.5 assists were almost a full assist more per game than any other player in the conference. Trimmer also showed a huge improvement as a senior point guard in 2018-19 when she set a new school record for best assist-to-turnover ratio with a mark of 2.23 during the season.
After the 2018-19 season, Davidson went on to spend two seasons at both Hartford and Loyola Maryland and one season at Fordham, serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at each institution. Her recruiting efforts helped Loyola Maryland finish with a 16-15 record in 2023-24, which was its best record in 14 years.
The Penguins went 15-16 in 2013-14 as Davidson was the Director of Operations at YSU in Barnes' first season as head coach. Davidson held the same role for a year at the College of Charleston in 2014-15 before taking her first assistant coaching position at Radford.
Radford had a historic run during Davidson’s two seasons on the bench, finishing with 42 wins in the two seasons and capturing its first regular-season conference title in 25 years. Davidson was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's inaugural Thirty Under 30 list that recognized the top young coaches in the country in 2016 while at Radford.
Davidson was one of the Mahoning Valley's top high school players of her generation. In 2004, she was ranked as the No. 43 player in the country by the All-Star Girls Report. A three-time first-team all-state selection, she finished her career ranking 28th in Ohio history with 2,076 career points.
She went on to play at Michigan State during a four-year stretch of national prominence for the Spartans. Michigan State was the national runner-up her freshman year, advanced to the Elite Eight her sophomore year and appeared in the Sweet 16 her junior year. The Spartans then advanced to the finals of the WNIT her senior year in 2008. Davidson was the recipient of the Sixth Man of the Year Award as both a sophomore and junior.
Davidson returned to Ursuline High School as an assistant coach from 2008-11, and she was the head coach of the Irish for two seasons before joining the college ranks.
Davidson graduated in 2008 from Michigan State with a bachelor's degree in organizational communication. She earned her master's in school counseling from Youngstown State in 2011.
Davidson's Coaching Timeline
| 2013-14 | Youngstown State - Director of Operations |
| 2014-15 | College of Charleston - Director of Operations |
| 2015-17 | Radford - Assistant Coach |
| 2017-19 | Youngstown State - Assistant Coach |
| 2019-21 | Hartford - Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator |
| 2021-23 | Loyola Maryland - Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator |
| 2023-24 | Fordham - Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator |
| 2024-Present | Youngstown State - Assistant Coach |
