The University of Cincinnati women’s basketball program added another coaching veteran to the sidelines Thursday when head coach Jamelle Elliott announced the appointment of Kia Damon as assistant coach.
Equipped with nearly two decades of NCAA Division I coaching experience, Damon comes to UC after spending the past nine years as an assistant at Penn State. Prior to her time in State College, Pennsylvania, she coached five years at the University of Massachusetts following three seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson. Damon got her coaching start at Green Bay in 1997.
“Kia’s experience, reputation and championship success as an assistant coach at a high level makes her a valuable addition to our coaching staff,” said Elliott. “Her passion for developing players, recruiting quality student-athletes and having a positive impact on the overall student-athlete experience is evident. We look forward to having her be a part of the Bearcats family.”
At PSU, she served as the Lady Lions’ offensive coordinator, coached the wings, played a vital role in opponent scouting and was the team’s recruiting coordinator. Damon was also the architect in helping Penn State lead the Big Ten in scoring two of the last four seasons including helping the Lady Lions pace the nation in three-point shooting in 2011. In addition, she helped develop three All-Big Ten selections during her tenure including Tyra Grant and Kam Gissendanner who went on to play in the WNBA.
During Damon’s five years at UMass, she served as the recruiting coordinator in her final two seasons in which she was responsible for prospect evaluation, home visits and management of the recruiting database. She also dealt with player development for the post and perimeter players and assisted in the scouting of opponents. Damon also helped lead the Minutewomen to their most successful season in 10 years with a 17-12 mark in 2006-07 and recruited and developed a Third Team All-Atlantic 10 choice and two members of the 2004-05 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team.
Damon spent three seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator prior to her move to Massachusetts. During her tenure at FDU, Damon helped produce two First Team All-Northeast Conference selections, as well as an All-Rookie Team choice.
In a two-year stint at Green Bay, Damon helped the Phoenix earn back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths, including one appearance under head coach Kevin Borseth.
As a four-year student-athlete from 1993-97, Damon led Millersville (Pa.) University to the PSAC Tournament twice and is 15th on the Mauraders’ all-time three-point field goals made list with 77. She won the award as Millersville’s top offensive player in back-to-back seasons and was the Co-Sixth Player of the Year in 1995.
Damon graduated from Millersville with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication in 1997 and earned her master’s degree in corporate communication from Fairleigh Dickinson in 2006.
“I’m very excited to join coach Elliott’s staff and become a part of the Bearcats family,” said Damon. “I’ve known Jamelle for over 10 years and I look forward to working with her and the rest of our accomplished staff as we take the program to the next level. I cannot wait to get to campus to get to work with our excellent student-athletes and coaches.”
http://www.gobearcats.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/070716aad.html
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