Tag: Coquese Washington

Rutgers women’s basketball lands Destiny Adams in the transfer portal

Destiny Adams commits to Rutgers women’s basketball.

A former top 20 recruit in the nation, Destiny Adams, committed to Rutgers women’s basketball on Saturday night. Adams had spent the first two years of his college career in North Carolina.

A 6-foot-3 guard from Manchester, N.J., Adams was a highly-sought after recruit who now returns home and projects to be a crucial part of head coach Coquese Washington’s rebuild.

In two seasons at North Carolina, Adams averaged 13.0 minutes, with 3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

In 2021, she was the Gatorade Player of the Year in New Jersey and the No. 20 recruit in the nation. She was ranked the fourth-best wing in the nation by ESPN.com.

Adams posted the news of her decision to transfer to Rutgers via her social media.

 

In their first season under Washington, Rutgers went 12-20 (5-13 Big Ten). They were 10-7 at Jersey Mike’s Arena.

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It was an impressive showing from the Scarlet Knights as they rebuild under Washington, who was a successful head coach at Penn State. During her time at State College, she led the Nittany Lions to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.

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Can Rutgers women’s basketball team crack Top 25?

After a nice 73-68 victory over Hofstra University last night, are fans slowly starting to hope that this season is a bounce-back year for the Rutgers women’s basketball team? Can head coach Coquese Washington return the Scarlet Knights to their once powerhouse form?

After a nice 73-68 victory over Hofstra University last night, are fans slowly starting to hope that this season is a bounce-back year for the Rutgers women’s basketball program? Can this team begin to stack wins in not just out-of-conference play but in a deep Big Ten?

Granted it is only one victory but getting off on the right foot is an excellent confidence booster. The next test for the Scarlet Knights will be this Friday night, November 11, 2022, against the Seton Hall Pirates. The last time the two local New Jersey universities faced off was back in December 2017, when the Scarlet Knights defeated the Pirates 70-45. The Pirates are going to give the Scarlet Knights more of a challenge than Hofstra, especially since Hofstra hasn’t had a winning season in the last six years.

After the retirement of legendary head coach C. Vivian Stringer, the Rutgers women’s basketball program was left wondering. Wondering if the once-successful program can return to the top. With the victory over Hofstra, the women Scarlet Knights ushered newly head coach Coquese Washington to the win column.

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Can Washington return the Scarlet Knights to their once powerhouse form? Watching the game last night, it was nice to see the Scarlet Knights put up points, something they lacked all last season.

Hopefully, Washington can carry on Stringer’s defensive mindset, something she implemented in her program for many years. In the years leading up to Stringer’s retirement, Rutgers had issues scoring, but would win games because of their strong defense. Stringer always made a case that a strong defense is a good offense, but nowadays that doesn’t work, since many teams have elite scoring. If Washington can get her girls to play tough defense and continue to run an efficient offensive scheme, Rutgers can make a tremendous improvement from last season, possibly cracking the NCAA Women’s Basketball top 25 rankings.

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Rutgers women’s basketball lands class of 2023 commit

Rutgers women’s basketball lands 2023 commit in point guard Jillian Huerter

Rutgers women’s basketball season may not start until November, but the recruiting efforts don’t have an offseason. The Scarlet Knights landed a class of 2022 commit in the form of point guard Jillian Huerter.

The 2022 Shenendehowa High School grad took to social media to make her announcement, sharing her excitement to commit to the program. She is currently playing for the Kent prep school. Her recruiting profile took a small hit due to pandemic-impacted seasons, and she spent the early part of her senior season rehabbing from a torn meniscus. The Saratoga County native fills an immediate need for the Scarlet Knights as many of the guards from last season’s squad have either graduated or transferred.

Huerter is no stranger to high level basketball as her family is basketball royalty in Saratoga. Her father Tom and brother Tom Jr. both played Division I at Siena College, while her older sister is currently playing for Providence College heading into her sophomore season.

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Let’s not forget about older brother Kevin who is currently in the NBA, signed with the Sacramento Kings and previously played for the Atlanta Hawks.

Back in May, she spoke to local media about how life was growing up with so many high level basketball players:

β€œWe had a lot of two on two games growing up. Now we’ll probably do more shooting competitions but we keep the competitiveness up with other games. We play a lot of cards or just anything we can do to compete with each other.”

Rutgers women’s team struggled last season to a 11-20 record – a steep drop off from a strong 2020-2021 campaign where they finished 14-5. Under the guidance of new head coach, Coquese Washington, they are looking to rebuild the program into a Big Ten power. Washington’s history of winning in the Big Ten with Penn State should pair perfectly with someone with the acumen and basketball family such as Huerter.

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Four-star Skylar Jones includes Rutgers basketball in her top five

Rutgers women’s basketball is in the top five for Skylar Jones.

Skylar Jones has Rutgers women’s basketball in her top five as the national recruit released her top schools on Monday night.

According to ESPN.com, Jones is a four-star recruit. Last month, she was offered Memphis, Illinois, Missouri, and Pittsburgh. In August, she received an offer from Rutgers.

Apparently, the Scarlet Knights and new head coach Coquese Washington made an impression.

Jones is one of the top players in the nation, coming off a season for Whitney Young High School (Chicago, IL) where she had 16.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for a program that went 27-6.

Rutgers is one of two Big Ten programs to make the cutdown from Jones. Mississippi State, Missouri and Syracuse round out her top five.

 

A 6-foot wing, Jones is a complete prospect. She is able to shoot from distance and has the ability to dribble and penetrate. A good rebounder, she runs the court fluidly and with good vision.

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Her length is an asset as well defensively as she can guard the perimeter or down low.

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Khamil Pierre offered by Rutgers women’s basketball

Rutgers women’s basketball offers four-star forward Khamil Pierre.

Rutgers women’s basketball sent out an offer this week to one of the top players in the class of 2023, four-star Khamil Pierre.

In the past weeks, Pierre’s recruitment has really taken off with offers from Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Colorado, Oregon, Kentucky, Clemson and Penn State all coming within the past two weeks.

According to ESPN.com, she is a four-star and the No. 93 recruit in the nation.

A standout at Perry High School (Gilbert, AZ), Pierre put out an impressive 21 points and 9.1 rebounds per game last season.

Last season, the Pumas went 22-10. She also plays for the Arizona Elite Girls Basketball Club, a top-tier developmental program.

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Pierre tweeted about the offer on Wednesday afternoon:

 

 

Rutgers is in the first year of a rebuild under new head coach Coquese Washington. A former head coach at Penn State who had significant success in turning the Nittany Lions into a consistent postseason team, Washington was most recently associate head coach at Notre Dame.

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A former WNBA player, Washington takes over for the legendary C. Vivian Stringer, who retired this offseason as one of the most successful and impactful head coaches in college basketball history.

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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.”

Four-star Zoe Brooks, a Rutgers basketball target, set to announce this week

Rutgers women’s basketball recruit Zoe Brooks will make her college announcement mid-week.

Zoe Brooks will announce her college decision on Thursday, the four-star guard set to wrap up her national recruitment.

The decision draws a close to Brooks’ recruitment where she was one of the most heavily pursued guards in the nation. A class of 2023 standout at Saint John Vianney High School (Holmdel, N.J.), Brooks has been a multi-year star and starter for one of the top programs in the nation. According to ESPN.com, she is the No. 33 player in the nation.

She’s been all-state for three straight seasons and last year was named a junior All-American by MaxPreps.

Last week in an interview with RutgersWire, Brooks provided an update on her recruitment:

β€œI have 10 schools that I hear from on a consistent basis. They are Boston College, Georgetown, Miami, Mississippi State North Carolina State, Penn State, Seton Hall, USC, Syracuse and West Virginia. Rutgers would be considered. It’s a good school.”

It is unclear if Rutgers is in the mix as one of her finalists.

 

It has been a whirlwind month for the Rutgers women’s basketball program. Legendary head coach C. Vivian Stringer announced her retirement in May, drawing a close to a hall of fame career where she turned the Scarlet Knights into a national program that consistently made deep runs into the NCAA Tournament.

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Two weeks ago, Rutgers announced that [autotag]Coquese Washington[/autotag], most recently associate head coach at Notre Dame, will be the new women’s basketball head coach.

In 12 seasons at Penn State, she led the Nittany Lions to the NCAA Tournament four times and the NIT on three other occasions.

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Big Ten Network analyst says Coquese Washington ‘is more than qualified’ to rebuild Rutgers women’s basketball

One Big Ten Network analyst thinks that the hiring of Coquese Washington was a great move for Rutgers women’s basketball.

Coquese Washington has the resume and the credentials to get the job done with the Rutgers women’s basketball team. So says Meghan McKeown, a former Big Ten basketball player who is now a college basketball insider.

A former Northwestern basketball standout, McKeown now works for the Big Ten Network in a variety of roles including as a women’s college basketball analyst.

In terms of the hire of Washington, there is certainly grounds for optimism from Rutgers fans. During a 12-year stretch as head coach at Penn State, McKeown led the Nittany Lions to four NCAA Tournament appearances, twice leading the program to the Sweet Sixteen.

Three other times, Penn State made the NIT.

For a Rutgers program that has, over the past two decades, consistently been a top 25 program and made the NCAA Tournament more often than not, Washington’s track record with Penn State has some interesting carry over to her rebuilding project at Rutgers.

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The Scarlet Knights went 11-20 last year, losing in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament to Indiana.

“I think the reason to be optimistic is coach Washington did have consistent success at Penn State for a stretch. It is incredibly difficult to win the conference, let alone do it three straight years,” McKeown told RutgersWire on Wednesday.

“Sometimes leaving a conference, then coming back, can offer a fresh perspective on how to approach building a program and recruiting. That has a chance to be the case in this instance. Coach also spent time at Notre Dame as associate head coach, and I felt that program was one of the most underrated nationally this past season after struggling when Muffet McGraw retired. This is going to be an uphill battle and will take a few years, but coach Washington is more than qualified to do it.”

After being let go at Penn State in 2019, she spent time at Oklahoma as associate head coach and then the past two seasons at a very good Notre Dame program.

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McKeown, who knows the Big Ten as both a player and a member of the media, thinks that Washington is a good fit. Having played against Washington-coached teams at Penn State adds another layer to McKeown’s buoyant outlook on the latest hire by Rutgers.

“Coach Washington is a great hire for Rutgers. She understands how to win in the Big Ten with a lot of success at Penn State. Coach Washington also understands how to develop pros,” McKeown said.

“I played against Alex Bentley and Maggie Lucas and that Penn State team was one of the hardest to guard. Coach also has experience at the highest level when it comes to recruiting the northeast and nationally. The Big Ten conference is one of the best in the country because of the level of coaching.

“Coach Washington knows how to compete in the chess matches that occur in-game regarding the coaching in this conference.”

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Former Penn State women’s basketball coach lands new Big Ten gig

Former Penn State women’s basketball coach hired by Big Ten school to lead program

Former Penn State women’s basketball head coach Coquese Washington is heading back to the Big Ten as a head coach. Rutgers officially announced on Monday it has hired the former Penn State head coach to serve as the program’s new head coach of the women’s basketball program.

Washington was the successor of former Penn State head coach Rene Portland following Portland’s controversial resignation amid controversy for her alleged discrimination of lesbian players in 2007. Washington took on the Penn State head coaching job as her first professional head coaching opportunity, and she held the job for 12 seasons when Penn State chose to not bring her back after the 2019 season. Prior to coming to Penn State, Washington was an assistant coach for her alma mater, Notre Dame. After moving on from Penn State, Washington spent one season as an assistant head coach for Oklahoma and returned to Notre Dame in 2020 for two more seasons back in South Bend as an assistant.

Washington earned multiple Big Ten coach of the year honors during her time at Penn State (2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14) and took the Lady Lions to four NCAA women’s basketball tournaments and three trips to the women’s NIT. Penn State advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2012 and 2014 and combined for a record of 76-20 during that three-year run.

At Rutgers, Washington will replace the legendary Vivian Stringer, a 2009 inductee to the Basketball Hall of Fame who has coached teams to four Final Four appearances (one with Iowa and three more with Rutgers), three Big East titles (Rutgers), and 10 regular season or conference tournament Big Ten championships (between Iowa and Rutgers) during the regular season.

For more on the former Penn State head coach’s next job, follow the ongoing coverage from our friends at Rutgers Wire.

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Rutgers women’s basketball has a new head coach in Coquese Washington with plenty of Big Ten experience

Rutgers women’s basketball has a new head coach in Coquese Washington who has lots of Big Ten basketball experience.

Coquese Washington is the next head coach of Rutgers women’s basketball. The announcement of Washington came on Monday evening as the former Notre Dame guard is set to become the third head coach in the program’s history.

Washington has a strong resume that most recdently includes the past two seasons as associate head coach for powerhouse Notre Dame, where she was a star player for the then Big East program.

She has 22 years of coaching experienceΒ  most notably a twelve-year stint at Penn State where she rebuilt the program and took them to the NCAA Tournament four times and the NIT three times. Twice under her direction, Washington led the Nittany Lions to the Sweet Sixteen.

While she has a very good reputation as a head coach, she was also quite the player in her own right. After her storied career at Notre Dame, she played several seasons in the WNBA including a couple seasons locally for the New York Liberty.

“I am beyond thrilled with the opportunity to be here at Rutgers, a university that excels both academically and athletically,” Washington said in a statment released by the university.

“Following in the footsteps of Hall of Fame coaches Theresa Grentz and C. Vivian StringerΒ is a tremendous honor. They exemplify achieving high levels of excellence with grace, class, integrity and dignity. The way they blazed trails and impacted the lives of student-athletes and coaches, beyond the ones on their teams, is nothing short of amazing. Standing on their shoulders to guide this program is going to be a wonderful adventure, and our family is eager to get to Piscataway and become a part of this remarkable community.”

The six-year contract for Washington gives the newest Rutgers head coach a guarantee of $4.625 million. There is also the possibility of meeting bonuses based on performance.

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The retirement of Stringer leaves a giant hole in the program as the Hall of Fame coach was a legend within the game. In some ways, Stringer’s clout was even bigger than the program itself.

Now, it is up to Washington to rebuild this program.

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Last year under acting head coach Timothy Eatman, Rutgers finished 11-20 with a second round loss in the Big Ten Tournament.

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