She's from Olla, Louisiana, a place that's easy to miss. If you're headed north to Arkansas on U.S. Route 165, midway between Alexandria and Monroe, you might stop there for gas. Wander closer to the center of town and it seems like you've gone back in time.

It's a spot where some residents don't lock their front door at night. You're surrounded by rural comfort, Bible Belt family values, hard-working people, home-cooked meals and eternal loyalty to the blue-and-gold LaSalle High School Tigers. Everybody, it seems, knows everybody. The population of about 1,300 — give or take a few — hasn't dramatically wavered in decades.

Olla — and it's Aw-lah, not Oh-lah — is the hometown of Kristy Curry, the University of South Florida's new women's basketball head coach. She has traversed her sport's landscape — going from Purdue to Texas Tech to Alabama and now to USF — but Olla has remained close to her heart.

"I'm very proud to be from that environment,'' Curry said. "I feel like I was raised to value what really matters in life. It's small-town all the way, but it formed who I am.''

Curry was from a LaSalle High graduating class of 52 seniors. There's still just one red light in town. You'll need to travel about 16 miles to find the nearest Wal-Mart or McDonald's. But there is the Olla Burger Barn — home of the highly acclaimed "Tiger Burger'' — and the Armadillo Mexican Restaurant.

Olla's official motto: "Small Town, Big Heart.''

"We might not have all the things you'd find in the big city, but we have a community where people care,'' said Joel Sims, Curry's younger brother (by 15 months), a high-school teacher and a former coach who guided two of his baseball teams to Louisiana state championships. "If somebody is in need or sick, you've got neighbors who will take care of you and help. That's who we are.

"It's definitely who Kristy is. She has the biggest heart. She's very thoughtful and she really cares about her players, more so than just teaching them how to play basketball. South Florida could not have gotten a better person.''

But when Curry takes the court?

Legendary former Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore, a Hall of Famer who once described Curry as a "good old country girl who was probably the hardest-worker I ever had on my staff (from 1996-99),'' said Curry is "as intense as it comes'' during basketball games.

"Kristy is so sweet and kind, but let's not overlook the fact that this kid is a competitor,'' Barmore said. "The folks in Tampa are going to discover that Kristy has a drive and a grit about her that really sets her apart.''

Considering Curry's family history, that's not surprising.

Her grandfather, Major Sims, was a principal and coach at LaSalle High during his 41-year education career. He's still the only four-sport letterman in the history of Northwestern State University.

Her father, Blake, was a junior-high football coach. Curry played for her mother, Ann, who was the LaSalle High girls basketball and softball coach.

Curry, an all-state point guard in high school, said her earliest basketball memories were being in the gym with her brother, maybe playing off to the side, as the Tigers practiced. She fondly recalls the basketball road trips to tiny towns in northern Louisiana — her mother the coach also drove the bus, of course — and especially the stops for special treats after victories.

"It just seemed natural for me to coach Kristy because we started at such an early age, but sometimes I would catch myself and (realize I was) harder on her than I would be the other girls,'' said Curry's mother, 87, who still lives in the family home that adjoins some farmland, where her kids once tended to the cows, baled hay and worked in the garden.

"Kristy called me 'Mama' during games, not 'Coach.' She always knew what to do and she was very well-prepared. I think the environment she grew up in had a lot to do with it. She has always gone beyond what you asked her to do and she did that even outside of athletics. She's a worker. And I guess you'd have to say that with all the coaches in our family, the coaching path was probably something she always wanted to do.''

Curry focused on becoming a high-school coach — "I wanted to be just like my mom and dad,'' she said — but was soon recommended for an assistant coaching job at Tulane University because of her Louisiana connections. She was 23 years old. She made $16,000.

From there, Curry went to Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M before Barmore called with an opening at Louisiana Tech, where she participated in two Final Fours, leading to a jet stream of head-coaching opportunities.

Curry has 27 seasons of head-coaching experience in the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC with a 554-322 career record, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and five conference championships.

"It feels like it has gone by so fast,'' Curry's brother said. "It almost doesn't seem real. I can still remember, like it was yesterday, when Kristy and I were on our carport, shooting basketballs. Next thing you know, she's getting out of college, starting out at a small high school. Then, wow, she's at all these college programs, then becoming the head coach at Purdue and everything that has followed right to where she is now at South Florida.

"When I picture her as a point guard or think about her as a college coach, she's always hustling. She has never slowed down. She just never stops and she will outwork anybody. She puts 100-percent into everything — whether it's playing, recruiting, practice, conditioning, the games. She has worked really hard and we're all so proud of her. Not just the family, but I think everybody in town.''

Curry's mother said she's proud of the life her daughter has built — and basketball is just a part of it. Curry's husband, Kelly, is her top assistant coach. They've raised two grown daughters — Kelsey (in her second year of law school) and Kendall (in graduate school) — and now they are the proud parents of an 11-year-old Jack Russell Terrier named Oliver.

"Kristy, I think, has always had the right priorities,'' Curry's mother said.

One of Curry's favorite Bible verses is Corinthians 10:31 — "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.''

But even while immersed in doing the right thing, Curry occasionally uses some homespun humor to put her tiny hometown into perspective.

"If you're on Highway 165 (outside Olla), don't speed because they'll give you a ticket,'' Curry joked. "Call me if you get stopped. We know the police chief.''

There will always be a little bit of Olla in the way Kristy Curry runs the USF women's basketball program.

"You know how important faith and family are,'' Curry said. "We operate our program like a family, realizing you've got somebody else's little girl (to watch over) every day. When you apply a work ethic and the right values, it's amazing how you can accomplish anything and be whatever you want to be, whether you come from a small town or the big city.

"Hard work, doing things the right way and helping each other — that's what we stand for and that's what we believe in.''