Valley returns to UConn as assistant
Morgan Valley is leaving a fragile position as head coach at Hartford for one of the most coveted assistant coaching positions in college basketball, returning to UConn as a member of Geno Auriemma’s staff.
“It’s a no-brainer, but at the same time it was really, really hard,” Valley said Wednesday morning. “We had started to turn the corner in recruiting (at Hartford), but when you get the call from the Mecca of basketball it’s kind of hard to say no.” Especially now. With Hartford deep into exploring a downgrade for its athletics department from Division I to Division III, Valley, part of three
national championship teams with UConn as a player in 2000-04, is leaving behind the uncertainty of one situation for the stability of another.
She notified the UHart coaching staff of her departure Tuesday. On Wednesday, she told players during an 8 a.m. team meeting.
“Some are really happy. Some are really upset,” Valley said. “I think a lot of these things, when you kind of get punched in the face, it takes a little time to get used to what just happened.”
Valley, 40, will replace Shea Ralph, recently named coach at Vanderbilt, and join associate head coach Chris Dailey and Jamelle Elliott as assistants.
“I’m just really excited for the opportunity,” Valley said. “I honestly can’t even believe that it’s happening. It’s been a crazy couple of days and I’m just really grateful to Coach. It’s really hard to put into words. It’s just exciting, it’s an honor, it’s pretty surreal. I thought this ship had sailed. I never even thought it was a possibility. But it’s just an honor and I’m so excited to represent a place that means so much to me.”
Valley, who had three years remaining on her contract, was 4-37 as Hartford coach. After Kim McNeill left the Hawks to become coach at East Carolina, Valley was hired in April 2019. She even purchased McNeill’s West Hartford home, a pretty seamless life transition that was counter to what she experienced on the job.
Taking over a team depleted by injuries and departures, Hartford was 0-28 before upsetting first-place Stony Brook in the 2019-20 season finale. Afterward, Valley was mobbed by players upon entering the locker room and, later, she and staff members uncorked a bottle of Dom Perignon that longtime friend and former teammate Diana Taurasi had given to her 10 months earlier.
The Hawks were 3-9 this past season, which was discontinued in January due to COVID-19.
“I thoroughly enjoyed every part of it,” said Valley, who had come to Hartford after spending two seasons as an assistant under Adia Barnes at Arizona. “It was really hard. But our motto this year was, ‘Do hard things.’ And we sure did them. We fought through them. We just worked hard every day. I don’t regret it. I’d do it again. It was an unbelievable experience and I’m just grateful to Hartford for giving me the opportunity in the first place.”
UHart president Greg Woodward and the Board of Regents formed a task force to examine the viability of a future of athletics in Division I, and cited a CarrSports Consulting report that the university loses $13 million a year in the current model.
Moving to Division III, the report states, would be more in line with the university’s mission. The issue is expected to be addressed and perhaps finalized by the Board in early May. A move to Division III would not take place immediately, but even consideration of such a plan causes great consternation for studentathletes and coaches.
“We were working hard, just on the court, trying to get better and trying to ignore all the noise,” Valley said. “Nothing changes for these young people at Hartford next year. It’s really nothing to worry about, immediately. We just put our heads down and kept working. … I just tried to ignore it and keep it moving. Those things are out of our hands. You’ve just got to try to work hard and ignore it and if something happens, it happens.”
Valley will start her job at UConn almost immediately. Coaches can host recruits for visits in June and travel to recruit in July.
The Huskies are coming off their 13th consecutive Final Four appearance and are expected to be the nation’s preseason No. 1 team, favored to win the program’s 12th national championship.
Prior to Arizona, Valley was an assistant at Washington, where she reached the Final Four as part of Mike Neighbors’ staff in 2016, Virginia Tech, UMass, Towson, New Hampshire and Holy Cross. She was a student-assistant at UConn in 2004-05.
“I had a pretty good understanding of what the role was going to be when I became a head coach because I had observed so many people — seasoned head coaches and first-time head coaches,” Valley said. “I was lucky to work for people and with people who allowed me to experience a lot of different things as an assistant. …
“I’ve definitely come a long way from my days as a player at UConn. Every year, you learn something different. Every day, you learn something different. You just hope you keep the good and leave the bad and continue to get better.”