Former Rutgers basketball star Tasha Pointer returns as an assistant coach

Tasha Pointer returns to Rutgers as an assistant coach!

New Rutgers women’s basketball head coach Coquese Washington has made her first move for her coaching staff, adding former Rutgers basketball legend Tasha Pointer to her bench on Monday.

A former standout at Rutgers who went on the play in the WNBA, Pointer most recently was head coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago the past three seasons. Previously, she spent eight seasons at Rutgers as an assistant under C. Vivian Stringer.

As a player at Rutgers, she was twice an All-Big East selection before being a third-round pick in the 2001 WNBA draft.

One of the top priorities for Washington, who was hired in May, is going to be finding assistants who can not only help her on the bench but also on the recruiting trail.

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The Scarlet Knights have struggled the past two seasons in high school recruiting and Washington, who has recruited this area both as a head coach at Penn State and most recently as associate head coach at Notre Dame, needs to have local ties on her staff.

 

Pointer, who played her high school basketball in Chicago, will certainly have local ties to New Jersey given her playing career at Rutgers as well as time spent with the New York Liberty.

Last week in an interview with Michael Cohen of FoxSports Radio New Jersey, Washington was asked about the status of her staff. Washington hinted at some progress being made.

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Her comments are certainly being backed up by Monday’s news.

“Well, it’s a work in progress. You know, hiring always takes a while and you got to wait until HR kind of gives you the thumbs up to move forward,” Washington said in the FoxSports Radio interview.

“But you know, we’re moving in the right direction. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we’ll be able to make some announcements about who’s going to join our staff.”