Returning to her comfort zone
Jamelle Elliott is back on the women's basketball staff full time and she's rediscovered how much she loves to coach
Geno Auriemma jokes that when Jamelle Elliott's resume came in as a candidate for an assistant coach's position with the UConn women's basketball team, he's surprised the Huskies' athletic department didn't just trade him in and hire Elliott.
"Imagine," Auriemma, UConn's Hall of Fame head coach, posed to the media earlier this year, "if you put it out on the street, 'Hey, UConn women's basketball is looking for a full-time assistant.' All of a sudden you get an application in the mail, 'Yeah, I was an assistant coach for (12) years, I won this many national championships, I won a national championship as a player and I was a head coach for nine years and I was an administrator.'
"I think my administration would go, ' Damn, we want you to take over for our coach.'"
Elliott got the job.
A 1996 UConn graduate, Elliott was a member of the Huskies' first national championship team in 1995, graduating as only the second player in program history to finish her career with more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
She then won five national championships as an assistant coach under Auriemma, the last one in her final season with the staff in 2009. For a few of those, Elliott, the former 5-foot-11 forward, had the distinction of throwing her arms around Auriemma in a bear hug and lifting him in the air when the final buzzer sounded.
Elliott was the head coach at the University of Cincinnati from 2009-18 but was back "home" at UConn — she actually hails from Washington, D.C. — working as the associate athletic director in charge of the school's Varsity C club when Auriemma called on her once again.
Elliott took over for UConn assistant coach Jasmine Lister at the end of January, when Lister took a leave of absence. Elliott, now 46, was hired as Lister's full-time replacement on July 1.
Late last week, Elliott spoke to the media for the first time since her official return via a Zoom video conference.
"Obviously, I have a lot of dedication and when someone asks me to do something for a program that has done so much for me, I didn't even hesitate at the opportunity to come in and help any way that I can toward the end of the last season," Elliott said.
"That was my thought going in, to at least come in and do what I can to help finish up the season."
That was the hook. Elliott, as it turns out, wasn't going anywhere.
"Obviously, when I came back, I fell in love
“Obviously, when I came back, I fell in love with being on the floor again. Just seeing the growth in the player development and how I can impact the players and also help coach Auriemma and the rest of the staff in any way that I can.''
JAMELLE ELLIOTT
with being on the floor again," Elliott said. "Just seeing the growth in the player development and how I can impact the players and also help coach Auriemma and the rest of the staff in any way that I can.
"... When I first came back in February, I fell in love with being a coach again all over again. Just the opportunity to be back on the floor, that's the one thing that I look forward to every day."
Auriemma's happiness as it pertains to Elliott's return is two-fold.
"One, on a personal level in that I have a long relationship with J and a comfort level with her and a tremendous amount of respect for her personally and as a professional, as a basketball coach," Auriemma said. "So that was a natural and that's what I take from our relationship more than anything else.
"The basketball part is just having another person on the staff that has had that kind of experience as an assistant coach and a head coach and being able to be another set of eyes. The ability, I think, to interact with the players that made J so integral to all the success that we had when she was here as a player and a coach, that hasn't gone away. It's still there."
Auriemma defended Elliott in March of 2018 when Elliott was fired after nine seasons as Cincinnati's head coach.
Elliott was 113-162 during that time, but was coming off a 19-13 season in which the Bearcats played in the WNIT.
Auriemma tweeted that the firing was "positively disgraceful" and added that "anyone interested in that job would be well-advised to do their homework" before taking it.
Before the NCAA tournament was canceled this year in March, Auriemma hinted that Elliott's addition to the staff was one of the things that led to the team's strength in the latter part of the season and, upon her return as a full-time assistant in July, Auriemma had more kind words.
"To be able to get somebody like that to join your staff who I know and love personally and means so much to me personally, me and my family ..." Auriemma said. "She's a
“To be able to get somebody like that to join your staff who I know and love personally and means so much to me personally, me and my family ... She’s a great teacher, a great communicator, she’s a great recruiter. A lot of great things have happened to our program, but this is right up there.’’
GENO AURIEMMA, ON JAMELLE ELLIOTT
great teacher, a great communicator, she's a great recruiter.
"A lot of great things have happened to our program, but this is right up there."
Elliott was still in her administrative role at UConn when members of the current recruiting class — including the No. 1 high school player in the nation, Azzi Fudd — were on campus, but she met with each of them and told them what she loved about UConn.
"Being on the floor," said Elliott, asked what was it about the return to coaching that reignited her passion for it. "Taking every opportunity that I can whether it's with a post player or with a guard just to talk to them about the game. Whether it's the mental side of the game or it's the physical side of the game, just helping them understand the expectations of the game of basketball and what it's like to play here.
"I would definitely without a doubt say 100%, the joy for me is being back on the floor every opportunity I get. I love it."