coaching staff - Hartford Hawks

coaching staff
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Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti
Assistant Coach Brian Mik
Assistant Coach Bill Sullivan
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Assistant Coach Tanika Price
Director of Basketball Operations Ikea Witt
Support Staff
Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti
preview
Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti has built the University of Hartford women’s basketball program
into an America East power in just nine years, winning four conference tournament championships
over the past seven years and making four trips to the NCAA Tournament.
coaches
Last season, Rizzotti led the Hawks to their third-straight America East regular season championship and third-straight 25-win season, fourth-straight postseason appearance and the program’s
third ever win over a ranked opponent (Michigan State). The 2007-08 squad finished the season
with a school record 28 wins after defeating Syracuse for the program’s second trip to the NCAA
second round, where they fell to Texas A&M, who advanced to the Elite Eight.
players
jennifer
rizzotti
2007-08
Head
Coach
Tenth season
Rizzotti, a two-time America East Coach of the Year (2005-06, 2006-07), had three of her
players receive postseason conference honors, including Danielle Hood and Erica Beverly on the
all-conference first team. Sophomore Diana Delva was named to the all-conference second team.
Junior Lisa Etienne was then named the America East Championship Most Outstanding Player after
leading the team to its third America East Championship in four years.
In 2005-06 Rizzotti led the Hawks to the program’s first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament.
Hartford defeated 19th-ranked Temple in the opening round and advanced to face Georgia in
the round of 32. The win over Temple was the first in school history against a nationally-ranked
opponent.
Hartford finished the season with a 27-4 record, setting a then school record for overall wins and
conference victories (15). The team also reeled off a school-best 15-game winning streak during
the regular season. After earning the school’s first ever regular season title, the Hawks captured
their second-straight America East Championship in front of a home crowd in West Hartford, CT.
america east
Rizzotti was named America East Coach of the Year in a vote of her peers, only the
second time the honor had been awarded to a Hartford women’s basketball coach.
Also receiving top honors after the regular season were senior Erika Messam and
freshman Erica Beverly. Messam became the first player in school history to be tabbed
America East Player of the Year, while Beverly earned Rookie of the Year honors,
also a first in school history.
opponents
Rizzotti’s recruiting philosophy has proven to be successful as she continues to bring
quality players to the program. In 2005-06, Beverly broke the school’s single season rebounding record with 270 boards and was named to the all-conference second team and the
all-rookie team. MaryLynne Schaefer, also a rookie in 2005-06, set a then single season record
Rizzotti's All-Time Coaching Record
hartford
YearOverall Pct.
Conf. Pct.
1999-00
14-14 .500
9-9 .500
2000-01
15-14 .517
9-9 .500
2001-02
16-15 .516
9-7 .562
2002-03
7-21 .250
5-11 .312
2003-04
18-12 .600
9-9 .500
2004-05
22-9 .710
13-5 .722
2005-06
27-4 .871
15-1 .938
2006-07
25-9 .735
15-1 .938
2007-08
28-6 .824
14-2 .874
Career Total 172-104.623
98-54.645
records
10
Postseason
America East Tournament Champions
NCAA First Round
America East Tournament Champions
NCAA First Round
America East Regular Season Champions
America East Tournament Champions
NCAA Second Round
America East Regular Season Champions
WNIT Second Round
America East Regular Season Champions
America East Tournament Champions
NCAA Second Round
Winningest Coach in School History
Four America East Championships, Three Regular Season Titles
Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti
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Career Playing Highlights
• Inducted in the New England Basketball
Hall of Fame (September 2003)
• Second all-time at UConn in career assists
(637), career steals (349), assists in a
single-season (222) and steals in a singleseason (112)
1995-96 Highlights
• NCAA Final Four
• Associated Press National Player of the Year
• Ban/Naismith Women’s Basketball
Player of the Year
• Honda Broderick Cup Award as National
Player of the Year
• Honda Cup Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year
• Margaret Wade Trophy recipient
as top senior women’s basketball player
• Kodak All-America First Team
• Associated Press and UPI All-America First Teams
• U.S. Basketball Writers Association
All-America First Team
• GTE CoSIDA Women’s Basketball
Academic All-American
• WBCA Senior All-Star Team
• Big East Conference Player of the Year
• Big East Conference Women’s
Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year
• NCAA Mideast Regional Most Outstanding Player
• NCAA Mideast Regional All-Tournament Team
• ECAC Player of the Year
• ECAC First Team All-Star
• Member of the 1996 USA Basketball
R. William Jones Cup Team
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1994-95 Highlights
NCAA National Champion
Perfect 35-0 record
Kodak All-America First Team
Associated Press All-America Second Team
NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player
Featured on cover of Sports Illustrated
In 2004-05, a jump shot from Messam with 4.2 seconds to play in the title game
propelled Rizzotti and the Hawks to the program’s second America East Championship and a date with Rutgers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Storrs,
CT. At the time, the Hawks’ 22 wins were the most ever for any team - men’s or
women’s - in the Division I era at Hartford.
In 2003-04, Rizzotti led the Hawks to a then school record 18 wins. She orchestrated the fifth-best turnaround in the nation as the Hawks finished 18-12 after
posting only seven wins in 2002-03. Overall, the Hawks picked up victories over
teams from eight different conferences including the ACC, Big East, Atlantic 10
and the MAAC.
In just her third season at Hartford, Rizzotti guided the Hawks to the program’s
first America East Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance during the
2001-02 campaign. The Hawks reeled off a then school record 16 wins, including dramatic victories
over Maine, top-seeded
Vermont and Stony
Brook to capture the
2002 Friendship Cottage Cheese America
East Championship on
their home floor.
Rizzotti was named the
seventh coach in University of Hartford women’s
basketball history on
Sept. 17, 1999. Just
12 days earlier, Rizzotti
had celebrated with her
Houston Comets teammates after defeating
the New York Liberty for
the WNBA championship. At the time of her
appointment, she was
the youngest Division
I women’s basketball
coach in the country.
Four NCAA Tournament Appearances (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008)
Preview
Coaches
Players
•
Rizzotti’s coaching excellence has not gone unnoticed at the national level. During
the summer of 2006, Rizzotti joined fellow Division I coaches Doug Bruno (DePaul)
and Carroll Owens (Northern Illinois) to coach the USA U-18 National Team. With
the USA team, Rizzotti won a gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championships
held in Colorado Springs at the US Olympic Training Facility.
2007-08
•
Under her watch, the team also earned its first ever votes in the Associated Press
Top-25 Poll during the 2003-04 season and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll
during the 2005-06 season. Last season, Hartford received the most ever votes in
both polls, 46 in the coaches poll and 24 in the AP poll, coming one vote shy of
cracking the Top-25.
America East
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Rizzotti, who is the winningest coach in school history, earned her 100th career victory in a December 2005 match-up with Seton Hall. She is only the fourth Hartford
coach – men’s or women’s – to reach that milestone.
Opponents
•
Coaching Highlights at Hartford
First NCAA Tournament Win (2006 v. Temple)
NCAA Tournament (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008)
NCAA Tournament Second Round (2006, 2008)
WNIT Postseason Tournament (2007)
America East Championship (2002, 2005, 2006,
2008)
America East Regular Season Title (2006, 2007,
2008)
America East Coach of the Year (2006, 2007)
School-record 28 wins (2007-08)
School-record 15 conference wins (2005-06,
2006-07)
School-record 15-game win streak (2005-06,
2006-07)
Three-straight 25+ win seasons (2005-06,
2006-07, 2007-08)
Associated Press Top 25 votes (2003-04, 2005-06,
2007-08)
USA Today/ESPN Top 25 votes (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08)
18 Players Named to All-Conference Teams
First all-time in wins (172)
Won gold as an assistant with the USA U-18 team
Hartford
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for three-pointers with 56.
Records
Career Highlights
11
Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti
preview
coaches
Rizzotti played eight seasons of professional basketball following
her graduation from the University of Connecticut in 1996. In addition to five seasons in the WNBA - two with the Houston Comets and
three with the Cleveland Rockers - she competed for three seasons
with the New England Blizzard in the American Basketball League.
In the ABL, she was a two-time All-Star. While proving to be a star
at the professional level, the Hawks coach truly made her mark on
the basketball world during her memorable career at the University
of Connecticut.
players
Rizzotti’s individual accolades are numerous. The point guard was
the Associated Press National Player of the Year and the Wade
Trophy winner as college basketball’s outstanding senior player in
1995-96. She was also a two-time Kodak All-America First Team
selection, a GTE/CoSIDA Women’s Basketball Academic All-American,
the Big East Player of the Year, and the Big East Women’s Basketball
Scholar-Athlete of the Year. During the Huskies’ memorable run to
the national championship in 1995, Rizzotti was featured on the
cover of Sports Illustrated.
During her collegiate career, Rizzotti averaged 11.4 points and
totaled 637 assists and 349 steals. She set the UConn season and
career records in both of those categories.
In September 2003, Rizzotti was inducted into the New England
Basketball Hall of Fame based on her outstanding accolades as
both a collegiate and professional athlete.
A native of New Fairfield, CT, Rizzotti is a 1992 graduate of New
Fairfield High School, where she was part of two state championship
teams. She was also selected as the Gatorade Player of the Year
for the state of Connecticut as a senior.
Rizzotti and her husband, Bill Sullivan, welcomed their second child,
Conor, this past July. Older brother, Holden, was born in April 2005,
shortly after the Hawks played Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament.
2007-08
america east
opponents
hartford
records
12
Four America East Championships, Three Regular Season Titles
Assistant Coach Brian Mik
Preview
Assistant Coach Brian Mik returns for his 10th season with the program. He is the only assistant
coach to be a member of Rizzotti’s staff for her entire coaching career and is currently the
longest tenured assistant coach in the America East. Mik’s responsibilities with the Hawks include
recruiting, scouting, and video editing, as well as game-day and practice duties and overseeing
all travel preparations.
Tenth season
Players
ASSISTANT
Coach
Prior to joining the Hawks, Mik spent six successful years as both a head coach of the Connecticut
Starters Amateur Athletics Union program and an assistant coach at Lyman Hall High School in
Wallingford, CT.
His Connecticut Starters team finished in the
top-five twice at the AAU National Invitational
Championships. While at Lyman Hall, the Trojans won two regular season championships
and one Southern Connecticut Conference
tournament title.
2007-08
BRIAN
MIK
Coaches
Mik’s knowledge of the Connecticut high school girl’s basketball scene and Connecticut AAU
programs has helped the Hawks land some of the top Connecticut players, including the 200506 America East Rookie of the Year and all-rookie team member Erica Beverly and all-rookie
selection Diana Delva in 2006-07.
America East
Mik earned a bachelor’s degree in corporate
communications from Southern Connecticut
State University in 1994.
Records
Hartford
Opponents
Brian and his wife, Sarah, a former
basketball player at Merrimack
College and current head girl’s
basketball coach at Cheshire
High Sc hool, reside in
Wallingford. They have
three children, six-yearold daughter Brianna, threeyear-old
son Drew,
and sixmonth-old
Grace.
Four NCAA Tournament Appearances (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008)
13
Assistant Coach Bill Sullivan
preview
Bill Sullivan enters his ninth season as an assistant coach for the Hawks. His responsibilities include
game-day and practice preparation, recruiting, scouting, video editing and scheduling.
Before joining the Hawks’ coaching staff, Sullivan was a teacher and basketball coach at Norwich Free Academy. His Norwich team enjoyed great success, advancing to the Connecticut LL
semifinals in 1999-2000.
coaches
players
Bill
Sullivan
2007-08
ASSISTANT
Coach
Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Connecticut in 1995 and
received his master’s in special education from Southern Connecticut State University in 1996.
A writing enthusiast during his free time, he
published his first book, “The Summer of
Calamari,” in 2005.
Sullivan and his wife, Jen, welcomed
their second child, Conor, in July. Older
brother, Holden, is three years old.
Ninth season
america east
opponents
hartford
records
14
Four America East Championships, Three Regular Season Titles
Assistant Coach Tanika Price
Coaches
Players
Price is one of the first Hartford players to win two America East Championships (2002, 2005).
As a senior, she started all 31 games and finished second on the team in rebounding at 4.7 per
game. She recorded a career-high 18 points in her senior
year against Northeastern when she finished 7-of-10 from
the floor. For her career, she had 480 points and 326
rebounds in 83 games with 61 starts.
Records
Hartford
Opponents
third season
Price was a member of the Hawks first ever America East Championship team and a member of
the first team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, dropping an 84-52 decision to Oklahoma
in the first round.
2007-08
ASSISTANT
Coach
Price has twice joined Three Female Ballers in Africa, most recently as the Athletics Director.
Three Female Ballers is an initiative through the Multicultural Scholar-Athlete Program, where
Price and other US basketball players spent time in Botswana and Tanzania teaching basketball
skills to African children. She served as a junior coach following her graduation from Hartford
in 2005. The goals of Three Female Ballers are to increase cross-cultural knowledge, develop
leadership skills in a multicultural setting, expose young women to various training modules and
practices as they relate to women’s basketball and life skills, and facilitate the understanding
of the opportunities associated with the world of sports for educated women.
America East
Tanika
Price
Preview
Tanika Price enters the third season in her first collegiate coaching job after graduating from
Hartford in May 2005. She is responsible for recruiting, scouting, video editing and game-day
preparations.
Four NCAA Tournament Appearances (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008)
15
Support Staff
preview
Ikea Witt enters her second season on the coaching
staff. Witt’s responsibilities include video exchange,
travel preparations, practice set-up and acting as
an alumni liaison.
coaches
Witt has been a member of four America East
championship teams, three as a player, and was
an instrumental piece in the Hawks’ first ever team
to win an NCAA Tournament game (2005-06) over
Temple. She graduated as the third-leading scorer
(currently fourth) in school history with 1,297 career
points.
players
ikea
witt
2007-08
director of
basketball
operations
Second season
Witt can be found among the top-10 in nine
different career statistical categories, including
points (fourth), field goals made (fifth), field goals
attempted (eighth), field goal percentage (seventh),
free throws made (third), free throws attempted
(third), free throw percentage (third), assists
(seventh) and steals (tenth). Witt also holds one of
the highest point totals in a single game, scoring
29 points against Boston University on February 5,
2005.
america east
opponents
Andrea miller
Academic Counselor
15th Season
April Thomas
Athletic Trainer
Fourth Season
Dr. David Burstein
Team Physician
Dr. Paul Tortland
Team Physician
Dr. Albert Kozar
Team Physician
hartford
Dave houseR
Strength & Conditioning Coach
First Season
records
16
Four America East Championships, Three Regular Season Titles