Coastal Carolina head women’s basketball coach Jaida Williams announced Wednesday the hiring of Vanessa Taylor as the program’s newest assistant coach. Taylor comes to Coastal Carolina after serving five seasons as the head coach at North Carolina Central from 2012-17.

“We are excited to have Coach Vanessa join us here at Coastal Carolina,” said Williams. “She is a phenomenal role model, a defensive genius and proven winner.”

Overall, Taylor boasts 23 years of women’s basketball head coaching experience.

During her time at NCCU, Taylor coached guard Morgan Jones, who reached 1,000 career points as a senior in 2016-17 and was named First Team All-State by the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association. Taylor also guided Racquel Davis, Tisha Dixon and Amber Neely to All-MEAC honors.

Prior to joining NCCU, Taylor spent 11 seasons as the head coach at Johnson C. Smith University where she finished with a 215-112 (.657) overall record. In 2010-11, Taylor led the Golden Bulls to a 26-5 overall record – the best in school history – and was voted the CIAA Coach of the Year. Taylor also captured the CIAA tournament championship in 2008-09, and CIAA Western Division championship in 2005-06. In her 11 season with the Golden Bulls, Taylor won 20 or more games five times, and won 19 games in the 2001-02 and 2004-05 campaigns.

The Golden Bulls reached the NCAA Division II tournament five times under Taylor (2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012).

Taylor’s first head coaching experience was at Elizabeth City State University from 1994-2001. She was voted the CIAA Coach of the Year in 1997-98, and again in 1999-2000 after leading the Lady Vikings to the CIAA East Division championship with a 22-5 overall record – the highest record during her tenure at ECSU.

http://www.goccusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/051717aaa.html

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