Portland State University Athletics

Megan Kritscher joined the Vikings as an assistant coach ahead of the 2022-23 season and will enter her second year on staff in 2023-24.

In her first year on the Park Blocks, Kritscher helped orchestrate the biggest year-to-year turnaround in program history. After an 0-20 conference campaign during their 2021-22 season, the Vikings went 8-10 during the 2022-23 season and advanced to the Big Sky semifinals for the first time since 2019. That +8 win differential was not only the largest turnaround in program history, but it was also just one win off the biggest year-to-year turnaround in Big Sky Conference history.

The Vikings saw the biggest year-to-year improvement in their defense, with Kritscher's work with the team's post players being instrumental in that regard. The Vikings gave up 10 fewer points per game in 2022-23 than they did the previous year, a turnaround that saw them go from 322nd in the NCAA for scoring defense to third in the Big Sky in 2022-23. Kritscher's work with Rhema Ogele also saw the then-sophomore average career bests for points, rebounds and blocks during the 2022-23 season.

A former post player at Sacramento State who played professionally overseas, Kritscher joined the Vikings after previous stops as the lead assistant at NAIA programs Southeastern University (2021-22) and William Jessup (2019-21).
  
At Southeastern, Kritscher helped lead the Fire to a No. 1 national ranking and 33-2 overall record during the 2021-22 season. Kritscher’s work with Angela Perry at Southeastern led Perry to being named a first-team NAIA All-American and the Sun Conference Player of the Year.
 
At William Jessup, Kritscher helped lead the Warriors to a 20-win season in 2019-20 and an NAIA postseason appearance in 2020-21. The postseason appearance was only the second in William Jessup’s program history, and it followed the program’s first-ever conference title. Kritscher’s work with Miranda Zaragoza helped the player earn two NAIA All-American honorable mentions as well as three All-Golden State Athletic Conference honors.
  
As a player herself, Kritscher broke the Sacramento State school record with 111 blocks as a senior, a total that also ranked her fourth in the NCAA that season. She went on to play professionally from 2013-18, a career that included stops in Poland, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Australia.
 
Kritscher joins fellow Viking assistant Ashley Bolston in giving the Vikings a pair of former Big Sky Conference players on staff. Coupled with head coach Chelsey Gregg and associate head coach Keithan Gregg’s time on Lynn Kennedy’s staff at Portland State, every member of the Vikings’ coaching staff will have at least three years of experience with the conference.