USA Basketball today announced the trio of coaches who will lead the 2022 USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team this summer, as well as two who will assist as court coaches during the USA U18 National Team trials. Texas A&M head coach Joni Taylor, who was an assistant coach for the gold medal 2021 USA U19 World Cup Team, will serve as head coach. Assisting Taylor will be collegiate head coaches DeLisha Milton-Jones (Old Dominion) and Teri Moren (Indiana).
Aiding the coaching staff in on-court skills and drills and scrimmages during the May 31-June 4 trials, in Colorado Springs, Colo., will be collegiate head coaches Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (Virginia) and Denise Dillon (Villanova).
“Anytime you have an opportunity to be a part of USA Basketball it is very humbling,” said Taylor, who returns for her fourth USA Basketball coaching assignment. “I’m excited about working with and learning from DeLisha [Milton-Jones], Teri [Moren], Amaka [Aguaga-Hamilton] and Denise [Dillon]. To have the ability to impact and lead young women while representing our country is very special and some of my greatest basketball memories have come with being associated with this great organization.”
A biennial event launched in 1988 and open to athletes 18 years old or younger, the FIBA Americas U18 Championship features eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. The USA Basketball women claimed 10-straight gold medals from 2000-2018, as well as in 1988, and silver medals in 1992 and 1996. USA Basketball is 59-2 in FIBA Americas U18 Championship action.
Taylor, whose previous USA Basketball experience also includes twice serving as a court coach, was announced on March 23, 2022, as the new Texas A&M head coach. Taylor spent seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia, where she compiled a 140-75 record, posted seven winning seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament four of the six years it was held. In 2016, she won Spalding Maggie Dixon National Rookie Coach of the Year and Georgia College Coach of the Year honors after compiling 21 wins in her first season.
Overall, Taylor owns 20 seasons of coaching experience at the Division I level. She was an associate head coach at Georgia for three seasons (2012-13 to 2014-15) and an assistant coach there in 2011-12. Prior to Georgia, Taylor was an assistant coach at Louisiana State University (2010-11), an associate head coach at Alabama (2008-09 to 2009-10), an assistant coach and associate head coach at Louisiana Tech (2005-06 to 2007-08) and an assistant at Troy (2002-03 to 2004-05).
Two-time Olympic and World Cup gold medalist, Milton-Jones enters her first assignment as a coach at the international level after having served as a court coach for the 2019 USA Basketball U19 and Pan Am Games team trials. A member of 18 USA Basketball teams with a combined record of 125-10 from 1994-2008, Milton-Jones captured six gold medals and earned five international tournaments. She currently is a member of the USA National Team Committee that selects athletes and coaches for USA teams competing in the Olympics, World Cup and additional USA National Team training camps and competitions, after serving on the USA Developmental National Team Committee the previous five years.
A 17-year WNBA veteran and two-time WNBA champion, Milton-Jones recently completed her second season at ODU and finished with a 24-10 mark and advance to the second round of the WNIT, turning around from a 13-11 record in her first year at the program.
Moren also marks her first international stint with USA Basketball after being a court coach for the 2021 USA U19 World Cup Team trials. A 19-year head coaching veteran, Moren spent the past eight seasons leading Indiana to a 172-89 record, including the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16, 2021 NCAA Elite Eight, 2018 WNIT championship and three additional postseason berths.
Prior to Indiana, Moren spent four years at Indiana State, where she compiled a 69-57 record and earned a pair of WNIT bids in her final two seasons. In all, and including seven years at the University of Indianapolis, Moren owns a 371-219 record as a collegiate head coach.
Both court coaches have been selected for their first USA Basketball coaching assignment.
Agugua-Hamilton recently took over as head coach at Virginia after a three-year stint at the helm of Missouri State’s program. She piloted her teams to a 73-15 record, a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and advanced to the 2021 Sweet 16. Agugua-Hamilton began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at VCU and spent eight years as an assistant coach at VCU, Indiana, ODU and Michigan State, before spending four seasons as the associate head coach at Michigan State.
Dillon spent the past two seasons as head coach at Villanova, where she piloted her teams to a 41-16 mark, the 2021 WNIT quarterfinals and the 2022 NCAA second round. Prior to Villanova, Dillon was a 17-year head coach at Drexel and in compiling a 329-211 record, and guided teams to 10 postseason appearances in her final 12 seasons, including claiming the 2013 WNIT championship. Dillon took over the Drexel program after spending two years as an assistant coach there and prior to that was a four-year assistant coach at Villanova.
https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2022/05/2022-wu18-coaches.aspx
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