Bio

Joshua Epperson will begin his four year as the head coach of the Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions basketball program in 2023-24 and will be in his his 21st year of coaching

The 2022-23 campaign was a special one for Coach Epperson and the Lady Lions as they brought home the Mid-South Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the second round of the National Tournament. This was the first time the Lady Lions had won the Mid-South Conference was quite a feat due to the Massey Ratings listing the league as the toughest in the nation. Coach Epperson also was a finalist regionally for the WBCA Coach of the Year award based on his team's success. The Lady Lions ended their journey losing to the eventual National Champs Clarke University in the National Tournament in a barn burner at Clarke.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Epperson's team returned to the NAIA Women's Basketball National Tournament. The 20-win regular season included several highlights including defeating the defending national champions on the road and leaving NCAA D1's University of North Alabama with a victory. Epperson has been involved three times in upsets against the highest level of collegiate competition. The victory over UNA was his first time leading his team to victory over an NCAA D1 program, with two other wins over D1 schools coming as an assistant.

In 2020, the Lady Lions, under Epperson's leadership, got out to a 5-0 start, including a 98-56 blowout win over No. 19 Talladega College.

In each of his first two seasons with the Lady Lions, Epperson has seen a member of his team honored as an All-American.

Prior to accepting the job at FHU, Epperson was the national director of basketball scouting for College Promoters USA. He was responsible for scouting 120+ of the top athletes in their region and helping them in their recruiting process. He was also in charge of organizing an event for 80 of the top players within six different states that had 53 college coaches in attendance.

Epperson gained collegiate coaching experience as the men’s graduate assistant for one season at Lubbock Christian (Texas) where the team defeated NCAA Division I opponent UTEP and was an NCAA Top 25 team for most of the season. He was also the first assistant/recruiting director at NCAA Division II Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) for two seasons. He was a part of the staff that helped lead the team to a win over NCAA Division I opponent Middle Tennessee State University.

At the high school level, Epperson led three different teams to district championship games. He also led a team to a region championship game and a sub-state appearance.

During his stint at Cumberland County High School, Epperson took a six-win team and turned it into a 20-win team in his second season. The turnaround gained interest from a national publication, Winning Hoops, with Epperson being featured in an article on cultural change.

He later moved to Unicoi County High School where the team made two district championship game appearances and was awarded Coach of the Year honors from his conference.

In his years as a head coach, Epperson has seen several players - both women and men - advance to compete professionally.

Epperson owns a Bachelor’s degree from FHU in Physical Education (2003) and a Master’s degree in Health and Human Performance from Fort Hays State (Kan.) University (2014). He is married to Kelly Epperson and they have two daughters: Caroline (10) and Annabelle (8).