University of Washington NCAA Final Four head coach Mike Neighbors has finalized his coaching staff for the upcoming season as former WNBA and Vanderbilt star Jasmine Lister will come to Seattle as an assistant coach, Neighbors announced Wednesday. Lister has spent the last two years as a graduate assistant on Geno Auriemma’s staff at Connecticut as the Huskies took home back-to-back national titles.
“You don’t have to look too deeply into Jasmine Lister’s basketball journey to find excellence,” said Neighbors. “One doesn’t start every game of her career at Vanderbilt, play more minutes than anyone in the history of the program, earn All-SEC accolades on the court and in the classroom, play professional basketball in the WNBA, then win two consecutive NCAA Championships with UCONN without having excellence. Now that she’s a Husky, we’re excited for her to have the opportunity to mentor our student-athletes and share how she was able to be successful at a high level – through hard work and sacrifice.”
“I’m really excited for the opportunity that Coach Neighbors has presented and I can’t wait to get started,” said Lister. “This program has really reached some new heights under Coach Neighbors’ guidance the last couple of years and I’m ready to be a part of it and contribute the best that I can. I’m looking forward to working with this great staff and with the talented group of student-athletes that are a part of our program.”
Lister competed collegiately at Vanderbilt from 2010-14, where she earned her BA degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. She left Nashville as one of the most durable players in program history. She started every single game of her career (129), shattered Vandy’s record for minute’s played (4,626) and was named to one of the All-SEC teams each season she competed along with earning WBCA All-American Honorable Mention honors as a senior.
While Lister was at Vanderbilt, the Commodores didn’t miss the NCAA Tournament once and advanced as far as the second round twice. Following her stellar career in Nashville, Lister spent the 2014 WNBA preseason in training camp here in Seattle with the Storm before accepting the position on Auriemma’s staff in Storrs. When the 2015 WNBA season started, the Los Angeles Sparks called and the 5-4 guard saw action in seven games during that season.
She recently finished her Master’s Degree in Sports Management at UCONN after helping the Huskies to their 10th and 11th NCAA titles.
Lister fills the final assistant coaching role as former assistants Adia Barnes and Fred Castro took head coaching jobs at Arizona and Eastern Michigan, respectively. Neighbors, who is entering his fourth season as the head coach at Washington, already has a budding coaching tree as former staff members Megan Osmer (University of Portland) and Adam Call (StonyBrook) have advanced their coaching careers after their time at Washington.
She will join Morgan Valley, who is in her second season with the Dawgs and also graduated from Connecticut, along with Todd Schaefer, who joined the staff last month. Schafer comes to Seattle after spending the last three seasons at Ole Miss.
Additionally, coach Neighbors has announced that Jackie Nared, Director of Player Development, will be leaving to pursue her professional playing career in Switzerland during the upcoming season and that position will be filled at a later date.
http://www.gohuskies.com/news/2016/7/20/jasmine-lister-named-womens-basketball-assistant-coach.aspx
Tagged with: Assistant Coach DI Lister
