For the third-straight year, Western Kentucky University will bring the Hill on the road this spring and summer to seven area cities and offer fans the
opportunity to meet, mingle and have pictures taken with WKU head coaches and athletic department personnel.
"Toppers On Tour" will stop in Russellville this Thursday. The group will greet friends and fans in the downtown Carrico Park Square at noon. Other
stops have been in Owensboro, Lexington, Glasgow, and Nashville. The tour will conclude in Louisville on June 11 and Elizabethtown on June 18.
Scheduled to appear at "Toppers On Tour" are WKU Interim Director of Athletics Todd Stewart, head football coach Willie Taggart, head men's basketball
coach Ray Harper and head women's basketball coach Michelle Clark-Heard, as well as cheerleaders, Topperettes and Big Red. More coaches and staff
members could appear as well.
Members of the WKU Ticket Office will also be on-hand to answer questions and take orders for football season tickets and deposits for basketball
season tickets.
Taggart is entering his third season as head football coach at WKU in 2012. After guiding the Hilltoppers to two wins in his first season, Taggart saw
his squad start 0-4 in 2011. However, WKU was able to orchestrate a remarkable turnaround, winning seven of its last eight games. The only loss in that
stretch came to number-one LSU in Baton Rouge. The Hilltoppers finished 7-1 in Sun Belt Conference games to finish second in the league race. The only
loss in the league was a four-point setback to eventual league champion Arkansas State.
The five-win difference in Sun Belt Conference play represents the biggest one-season turnaround in league history. Only two teams in all of the
Football Bowl Subdivision - Houston and Arkansas State - experienced bigger turnarounds in terms of overall wins from 2010 to 2011.
Harper pilots a WKU men's basketball team fresh off a memorable run through the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Tournament and a win in the NCAA Tournament.
After taking the helm of the team midway through the 2011-12 season Harper began to put his stamp on the program, and the team responded in a big way.
The Hilltoppers went 11-8 after he took over and 7-1 after he was named full-time head coach, which came after starting the season with a 5-11 record.
In winning seven of its last eight games, WKU won a game against conference rival Arkansas State on a buzzer beater, defeated conference champion
Middle Tennessee two days later in front of a sell-out crowd at E.A. Diddle Arena and then stormed through the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot
Springs, Ark., capturing four wins in four days to earn its eighth tournament title and head to the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd time.
In all, WKU finished the season with a 16-19 record, and freshman guard Derrick Gordon was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Third Team. His 412
points scored were the third-most by a freshman in WKU history, and fellow rookies George Fant (321) and T.J. Price (270) cemented their places on the
list in seventh and ninth, respectively, thanks in part to Harper's coaching efforts.
Former Lady Topper student-athlete Clark-Heard, who spent two years as the head coach at Kentucky State and has helped lead Louisville into national
prominence the last five years as an assistant coach, was named the new head coach of Lady Topper Basketball on March 22. Clark-Heard was part of four
NCAA Tournament teams during her playing career at WKU and has been on the bench as an assistant coach with seven other NCAA Tournament teams.
Clark-Heard just completed her fifth season as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville. In those five seasons, the Cardinals made three
Sweet 16 appearances and made their first Final Four appearance, finishing as the National Runner-Up in 2009. Clark-Heard was instrumental in bringing
in the number-12 recruiting class in 2008, then followed with three consecutive top-10 classes in 2009, 2010 and 2011. During her time at Louisville,
the Cardinals produced eight all-Big East performers, six of which earned first-team honors. Clark-Heard came to Louisville after spending two seasons
as the head coach at Kentucky State.
Michael Schroeder is Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations at Western Kentucky University.