Nov. 8, 2016
By Ryan Berti, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Many student-athletes dream of getting to the next level once their collegiate careers come to an end and while only about one percent of all NCAA women's basketball players end up being drafted into the WNBA, the Penn State coaching staff claims three members who have enjoyed professional basketball careers.
Head coach Coquese Washington and assistant coaches Itoro Coleman and Tamika Jeter all boast WNBA service on their resumes, making the Lady Lions coaching staff one of the only two programs in the country with as many coaches with WNBA experience.
Between the three, they combined for 14 seasons in the Association and have tutored 10 student-athletes that followed their path into professional basketball. With the staff's rare combination of personally playing know-how and teaching student-athletes the skills needed, the staff has the personal knowledge of what it takes to continue one's basketball career beyond college.
Before Washington entered the coaching realm and eventually took the helm of Penn State's program in 2007, she was a law student at Notre Dame who simultaneously played in the ABL. After one season with the ABL's Portland Power, she joined the WNBA in 1998 with the New York Liberty.
After two team changes, six seasons and one WNBA title with the Houston Comets in 2000, Washington retired from playing and moved into coaching. Washington wasn't only a standout on the court, as she would use her law degree to become the founding President of the WNBA Players Association in 1999 as she helped lead the charge in the negotiation of the Association's first two collective bargaining agreements.
Looking back on her career, Washington was nothing but smiles as she mentioned a number of great coaches and players she was able to share the floor with.
"It was incredible. It was so much fun being able to play with some of the best players in the world and playing alongside hall of famers," Washington said.
Assistant Coach Itoro Coleman took the path less traveled to begin her professional career. Going undrafted as an All-American out of Clemson, Coleman found her way into training camps without a guaranteed spot on a regular season roster and often times had to grind it out and trust that things would fall in her favor.
She spent two seasons in the league, 2001 with Indiana and 2003 in Houston, and also saw a host of success in international competition with Team USA and the Nigerian national team.
When reflecting on her career, Coleman not only mentioned the elite talent she competed with each night on the court, but she also talked about how different the college game was from the professional level.
"The level of talent that is on the floor [in the WNBA] at the same time was very different from college," Coleman said. "In college you can strategize against different team's best players, but when you get to the pros, everybody is great. Just being able to play with a lot of really good athletes was pretty amazing."
The newest addition to the coaching staff, Tamika Jeter, had a solid professional career that started when she was selected No. 6 overall in the 2002 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx following her time at the University of Connecticut which featured two national championships.
The former Tamika Williams would go on the rack up over 1,400 points, 1,100 rebounds, 220 assists and 180 steals during her seven seasons in the WNBA, earning the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award in her final season. Williams continues to hold the No. 1 spot for single season field goal percentage, posting a .668 field goal percentage in 2003.
Amongst overall exposure to the world at large and several traveling opportunities, she expresses that being able to play against the best of the best night in and night out was her favorite part.
"The best thing about the WNBA is playing against the best players in the world every night, so you know you're playing at the top level against the best players that you can ever play against for however many years you play," Jeter said.
Each coach was able to accomplish their dream of playing in the WNBA, but the sheer enjoyment of their achievements is not the only thing they are able to take away. All of them agreed there are valuable lessons come from being a professional athlete, and they carry those lessons into coaching.
"The knowledge that we gained and that we're able to bring back to our team and help them develop their games and prepare them to play at the next level is huge," Washington said. "We know from first-hand experience having been there ourselves, so I definitely think it's a tremendous benefit for our players."
Jeter says she pieced together more and more knowledge as her playing career went and she was able to use each one-on-one matchup as a learning experience.
"You get exposed to all these different players and [styles of play]," Jeter said, " and I used to love studying Tina Thompson and Lauren Jackson. I could just literally just watch and take notes on things that I would like that they would do. That really helped me to be successful."
Having gone down a different road than most to reach the WNBA, Coleman took her experience and uses it as a teaching point for her student-athletes who aspire to reach the same heights.
"I want my players to be the best possible players you can be and let the cards lay," Coleman said. "Sometimes you might not understand why a coach is making a decision, but that's not in your control. You control the things that you control and then you can be happy about the type of product you put out there."
With the vast amounts of playing time at the biggest stage of women's basketball, and with proof they can also get student-athletes there, the Lady Lions coaching staff is unique in the depth of knowledge they bring to the game night in and night out.