Recently-hired Rutgers head women’s basketball coach Coquese Washington has completed her coaching staff, and it includes a prominent former Scarlet Knight with experience on the bench at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Tasha Pointer, who had a historic career as a point guard under C. Vivian Stringer before serving as her assistant coach for nearly a decade, has been hired for a second stint on the bench at her alma mater, a person with knowledge of the hire told NJ Advance Media.
Former Mississippi State head coach Nikki McCray-Penson and Saint Joseph’s assistant head coach John Hampton will serve as Washington’s other two assistants, the person said. Washington has also hired Ali Hoesly, who served as the head student manager under Stringer from 2014-2016, as her Director of Basketball Operations and Elon’s DOBO Stephen Fischler as her Chief of Staff.
Pointer’s return to Rutgers creates a connection to the program’s glory days.
She had a memorable college career with the Scarlet Knights from 1997-2001, becoming the first player in Rutgers women’s basketball history to record a triple-double and the first player in Big East history to record more than 1,000 points, 700 assists, 500 rebounds and 250 steals in her career.
Pointer, who played a prominent role in the Scarlet Knights reaching their first Final Four in 2000, remains the program’s all-time assist leader with 839.
Following a brief career in professional basketball, Pointer entered the coaching ranks as an assistant coach at Columbia. She spent two seasons with the Lions, then one campaign with Xavier, before being hired by Stringer ahead of the 2007-08 season. Pointer spent eight years as Stringer’s assistant, helping Rutgers reach six NCAA Tournaments, including an Elite Eight in her first season.
She moved on to serve in the same role at St. John’s in 2015, spending two seasons in Queens before heading to Evanston to serve as an assistant coach at Northwestern.
Pointer was hired as a head coach for the first time by the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2017. Her four-year stint at the helm was far from successful; the Flames went 11-94 in that time and never surpassed three wins in any season under her leadership.
McCray-Penson has no previous connection to Rutgers, but the Tennessee native has plenty of experience in basketball. A Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer, she played at Tennessee for legendary head coach Pat Summitt from 1991-95, where she was a two-time All-American and SEC Player of the Year. She went on to have a decade-long professional career where she was a three-time WNBA All-Star.
McCray-Penson began coaching immediately after retiring from playing, serving as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky and South Carolina. She spent 11 seasons under Dawn Staley in Columbia, helping the Gamecocks win the 2017 national championship. She got her first head coaching job shortly following that season at Old Dominion, where she stayed for three seasons before being hired in the same position at Mississippi State in 2020. Her stint in Starkville lasted just a season before she resigned in October of 2021 to combat unspecified health concerns.
Hampton comes to Rutgers following seven seasons at Saint Joseph’s under head coach Cindy Griffin. He previously served as an assistant coach at Rider. At Saint Joseph’s, Hampton worked “primarily with the Hawks’ post players,” oversaw the defense and was “responsible for all junior college recruits,” per his bio.
A 2016 graduate of Rutgers, Hoesly was named the school’s Manager of the Year for her efforts as the head manager of the women’s basketball program as a junior. She served as Pitt’s DOBO for the past four seasons after spending her first two years out of college as an assistant DOBO, executive assistant to the head coach and director of recruiting operations at Florida State.
Fishler has experience working under Washington; he served as Penn State women basketball’s head video manager from 2012-2016 before spending a year as a graduate assistant in 2016-17.
Washington is a month into her stint as the head coach at Rutgers. She has made progress fixing some of the holes left by the chaotic year that proceeded Stringer’s retirement, reaffirming the commitment of transfers Abby Streeter and Kai Carter, who previously pledged to interim coach Tim Eatman prior to Stringer’s retirement. She also landed her first high school commit in point guard Cammie McKinney, who will join the team in the 2022-23 season.
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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