Katie Nelson, formerly of Johns Hopkins, has been named the head women’s basketball coach at Milwaukee School of Engineering Director of Athletics Brian Miller announced today.
Nelson had served as an assistant coach at JHU since 2009-10 and replaced Jessica Ott, who was named director of athletics and head basketball coach at Alverno last month.
“We are excited to welcome Katie Nelson to the MSOE athletic department,” Miller said. “Katie’s background in basketball and specifically at a high academic institution made her an ideal choice for the job.”
Nelson has spent the last seven seasons with the Blue Jays, helping the team to six winning seasons in that time and a 123-62 (.665) record. She helped the program to regular season championships and the NCAA Tournament in 2011 and 2012. Both seasons saw Hopkins advance in the national tournament with a first-round win. Nelson has worked primarily with guards in her coaching career, while assisting in scouting, recruiting and game-planning. At JHU, guards earned nine all-conference awards and one was named all-region.
“I am thrilled and honored to be chosen as the next head women’s basketball coach at MSOE,” Nelson said. “I would like to thank Tim Valley, Brian Miller and the entire search committee for this tremendous opportunity. MSOE is a special place with a great academic and athletic tradition and I look forward to being part of the community. I am extremely excited to get to know our student-athletes and continue building on the success of the program.”
After a four-year standout playing career at UMass, Nelson got her coaching career started with two seasons with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA. She spent one season as a coaching intern and another on the video operations staff before making the move to collegiate coaching. She served on the staff at Navy for the 2007-08 season and New Hampshire the next before Johns Hopkins.
Nelson was a four-year starter at the University of Massachusetts at point guard, serving as team captain as a senior. She capped her career with the Minutewomen as the school’s all-time leader in three-point field goals (191) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1:36) and also ranked among the top five in assists (366), games started (103) and minutes played (3,632). During her career she was named to both the Atlantic 10 and Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and was a member of the UMass Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
Nelson graduated from UMass with a degree in sports management and a minor in sociology. She hails from Ellicott City, Md., and was a three-sport standout at the McDonogh School in Baltimore. She is the daughter of Bill Nelson, longtime head men’s basketball coach at Johns Hopkins. He completed his 30th season leading the Blue Jays in 2015-16.
Nelson takes over a program that is enjoying its best run in program history with 51 wins over the last three seasons. The Raiders went 18-8 last season and finished tied for second in the conference with a 16-4 league mark. Holly Denfeld is one of three returning starters as she is back for her senior campaign. Denfeld received the Josten’s Trophy last season, was named a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American and tabbed as the NACC Player of the Year.
http://go-raiders.com/sports/wbkb/2016-17/releases/20160817mv3x3g
Tagged with: DIII MSOE
