Valley returning to UConn women as an assistant coach

Morgan Valley, head coach at the University of Hartford for the last two seasons, is leaving that job to become an assistant coach with the UConn women's basketball program.

Valley, a 2004 UConn graduate, replaces Shea Ralph, who left earlier this month to become head coach at Vanderbilt.

"We're absolutely thrilled to have Morgan come on board," head coach Geno Auriemma said of Valley, who still must complete UConn's employee onboarding process. "We wanted to get someone in here who had varied experiences, and certainly Morgan, since her playing days at UConn, has had an impact at numerous schools around the country.

"We thought it'd be the perfect situation for us. Morgan is familiar with who we are, what we stand for and what our goals are. I think they're perfectly aligned with Morgan's values and goals, and we're just excited to have her back with our program."

Valley was a member of three national championship teams for the Huskies (2002, '03 and '04), graduating with a degree in human development and family studies.

She spent the 2004-05 season as a student assistant at UConn and has since had assistant coaching jobs at Holy Cross (2005-07), New Hampshire (200708), Towson (2008-10), UMass (2010-14), Virginia Tech (2014-15), Washington (2015-17) and Arizona (2018-19).

Valley was part of the coaching staff when Washington earned its first-ever trip to the NCAA Final Four (2016) and helped develop guard Kelsey Plum, Washington's first All-American and current WNBA star with the Las Vegas Aces.

"Words cannot express how honored and excited I am to come back home and represent the University of Connecticut," Valley said in a release. "I am so grateful to Coach Auriemma for this amazing opportunity. This is a dream come true and I can't wait to get started."