Coquese Washington

Coquese Makebra Washington (born January 17, 1971)[1] is a former collegiate and professional basketball player and former associate head coach at Notre Dame. She is currently the head basketball coach for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights women's basketball team. Washington holds a law degree and was the first president of the WNBA Players Association, holding that position from 1999 to 2001. She played high school basketball at Flint Central High School and collegiate basketball at the University of Notre Dame.

Coquese Washington
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
PositionHead Coach
LeagueBig Ten
Personal information
Born (1971-01-17) January 17, 1971
Flint, Michigan, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Listed weight138 lb (63 kg)
Career information
High schoolFlint Central (Flint, Michigan)
CollegeNotre Dame (1989–1993)
Playing career1997–2003
PositionPoint guard
Number4
Coaching career1999–present
Career history
As player:
1997–1998Portland Power
1998–1999New York Liberty
2000–2002Houston Comets
2002–2003Indiana Fever
As coach:
1999–2007Notre Dame (assistant)
2007–2019Penn State
2019–2020Oklahoma (associate head coach)
2020–2022Notre Dame (associate head coach)
2022–PresentRutgers
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Women’s Basketball
Assistant Coach for  United States
World University Games
Gold medal – first place2013 Kazan, Russia Team Competition

High school

Washington attended high school at Flint Central High School in Flint, Michigan. She was the starting point guard for all four years of her high school basketball career, the first player at Central to earn a starting position in all four years. Washington earned all-state honors in back to back years. In her senior year she scored 373 points to set a school scoring record for a single season, And went on to score a total of 1,123 points in her career. She led the team to their first ever Saginaw Valley Conference and district championships.[2][3][4] In addition to sports excellence, she also had musical talents, playing seven different musical instruments while at Central.[5]

University of Notre Dame

Washington played for Notre Dame's Fighting Irish women's basketball team from 1989 to 1993. Afterwards, she attended Notre Dame Law School from 1994 to 1997, earning her J.D.

Professional playing career

After completing her athletic eligibility with the Irish in 1993, she began a professional career by joining the American Basketball League 1996-98 (ABL). She began her pro career in 1997–98 as the starting point guard with the ABL's Portland Power.

Women's National Basketball Association Career
  • 1998–99 – New York Liberty – Washington averaged 4.1 minutes, 0.6 points, and 0.8 rebounds per game.
  • 2000 – Houston Comets: Washington received playing time in 25 games, and throughout the season, she averaged 1.7 points and an assist per game.
  • 2001 – Houston Comets: Washington started all 32 games, as a point guard. Throughout the season, she averaged 5.3 points, 3.8 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.16 steals per game. On August 3, 2001, playing against Orlando and in her best game of the season, she posted ten points, nine rebounds, and six assists.

Coaching career

Notre Dame

Washington began her coaching career in 1999, when she returned to her alma mater, University of Notre Dame, and worked as an assistant coach under Head Coach Muffet McGraw. She was part of the coaching staff for the team that won the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship in 2001, defeating Purdue.

In August 2005, Washington was promoted to an Associate head coach, which includes the responsibility of coordinating Notre Dame's recruiting efforts on promising young players.

Penn State

On April 23, 2007, she was named the fifth coach in Penn State women's basketball history, following Rene Portland's resignation.

Washington increased her number of Big Ten wins in each of her first six years, starting with 4 conference wins in 2007–2008 and growing to 14 and her second consecutive Big Ten regular season title in the 2012–2013 campaign. Washington's first post season appearance at Penn State was a first round loss in the 2010 WNIT Tournament. Since 2011, Washington has led her teams to three consecutive NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship appearances where her teams have advanced past the first round in every appearance. Her most successful season was the 2011–2012 season when Washington's Lady Lions advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to perennial powerhouse UConn.

In 2013, Coquese Washington was named to the 18-member "Presidential Search and Screen Committee" at Penn State to help determine the university's next President.[6]

On March 8, 2019, Penn State and Washington parted ways after 12 seasons.[7]

Oklahoma

On April 18, 2019, Washington was announced as the new associate head coach of the Oklahoma women's basketball program.[8]

Rutgers

On May 23, 2022, Washington was announced as the new head coach of the Rutgers women's basketball program.[9]

Awards and honors

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Penn State Lady Lions (Big Ten Conference) (2007–2019)
2007–08 Penn State 13–184–1410th
2008–09 Penn State 11–186–12T–7th
2009–10 Penn State 17–148–10T–6thWNIT 1st Round
2010–11 Penn State 25–1011–52ndNCAA 2nd Round
2011–12 Penn State 26–713–31stNCAA Sweet Sixteen
2012–13 Penn State 26–614–21stNCAA 2nd Round
2013–14 Penn State 24–813–3T–1stNCAA Sweet Sixteen
2014–15 Penn State 6–243–15T-13th
2015–16 Penn State 12–196–1211th
2016–17 Penn State 21–119–7T-6thWNIT Third Round
2017–18 Penn State 16–166–1011thWNIT 1st Round
2018–19 Penn State 12–195–1312th
Penn State: 209–169 (.553)98–106 (.480)
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Big Ten Conference) (2022–present)
2022-23 Rutgers 12–205–1311th
Rutgers: 12–20 (.375)5–13 (.278)
Total:221–189 (.539)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Personal

Washington lives in Somerset, New Jersey with her husband, Raynell Brown, and their son, Quenton Kassius Winston Brown (b. April 24, 2005), and daughter, Rhaiyna Kamille Brown (b. July 23, 2009). She has a mother, Velma Washington, and her father James Washington. (d. 2013) She has two sisters, Stephanie and India, and two brothers, Ameer and Kenyatta (d. 2016). She is close friends with Notre Dame coach Carol Owens and head coach Niele Ivey.[2] Washington currently has no pets, and there is no other information known about her personal life.

References
  1. "Women's Basketball Coaches Career". NCAA. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  2. "Coquese Washington Brown". www.fpl.info/. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  3. "Washington to be inducted into Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame". news.psu.edu/. December 4, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  4. "Flint native Coquese Washington will stay with Penn State women's basketball program after interview with Michigan". www.mlive.com/. April 16, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  5. "Greater Flint Area Sports Hall Of Fame Inductees". gfashof.org/. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  6. "Pick and roll or search and screen? Coquese Washington to help find Penn State's next president". January 24, 2013.
  7. "Penn State parts ways with women's basketball coach Coquese Washington". Post-Gazette.com. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  8. "COQUESE WASHINGTON NAMED WBB ASSISTANT COACH". SoonerSports.com. University of Oklahoma Athletics. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  9. "Coquese Washington Named Rutgers Head Women's Basketball Coach". scarletknights.com. Rutguers University. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
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