STORRS — In her new venture, Jamelle Elliott will bring to bear all the experiences she has had at UConn, and they started with a shocking first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament.
“People forget about things like that,” Elliott said Wednesday, in a talk with state reporters to say her goodbyes. “This generation, babies are born thinking UConn (automatically) goes to the Final Four every year. But we lost at home, in Gampel, where we never do, when I was a freshman. So I was able to see what it feels like to lose and have a carrot dangling in front of you, to try to accomplish something no one had ever accomplished in this program.”
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There is a bit more to that story. Louisville beat UConn, 74-71, but Elliott came off the bench to get 21 points and 16 rebounds, and she has reminded Geno Auriemma since, that if she’d been starting, the Huskies might have had a higher seed in 1993. Lessons learned. Elliott became a starter and a key player as UConn won its first championship in 1995 and Auriemma learned to lean on her.
Elliott, 52, was an assistant coach after her playing days, 1998-2009, then was head coach for nine years at Cincinnati. She returned to UConn and was instrumental in the forming of the National C Club for athletic alums, then at Auriemma’s urging returned to the coaching staff in 2020. She announced last week she was leaving the program, having played a part of seven of its 12 national championships.
“When I came back, I said I wanted to help him get another national championship,” Elliott said. “When that happened (in 2025), that was still in my mind.”
A little over a year after UConn’s 12th championship, she decided it was time for a new enterprise, the Jamelle Elliott Collective.
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“I would call myself a ‘leadership performance teammate,’” she said. “For any space that’s willing to have me.”
Her website, JamelleElliott.com has launched, and the services she plans to provide will be tailored to what teams want and need. She will be offering to speak to teams, advise, consult with coaches, high school, college, she’ll be sharing her vast knowledge and experiences in an effort to grow women’s basketball.
“My website is an opportunity for people to engage in any way they see a need to have me come in and help them build something, or bridge the gap for something they may be missing in their organization,” Elliott said. “That could be advisory, that could be somebody wanting to pick up the phone and wanting me to be a sounding board for them as a new coach. I’m having some meetings now in secondary education, that could mean me eventually going in and starting a leadership academy and working with high school coaches and impact they have not only in winning games, but impacting young lives.
“I want to offer them the leadership and performance things I’ve learned throughout my time here.”
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Originally from Washington, D.C., Elliott, after UConn’s 1995 championship, helped mentor the young players that kept the program on top for several years to follow. Nykesha Sales, for example once told Auriemma she was not afraid of him, she was afraid of Elliott, then a senior.
Later on, Elliott played a major role in recruiting, listing Barbara Turner among her favorite success stories. She was the first UConn coach to see Sarah Strong, then a high school freshman. “And I texted the staff back here, ‘I just saw the best player I probably have ever seen in my life.’”
At the Final Four in Phoenix two months ago, Elliott found herself between Auriemma and Dawn Staley in the tense moments following South Carolina’s victory, ending the Huskies’ unbeaten season in the national semifinals. Elliott made clear that incident had nothing to do with her subsequent decision.
“It was a situation where it was my instincts and I felt I had to do what was right, not only for the integrity of our program, Dawn and her program, but the integrity of the game and what’s appropriate,” Elliott said. “Coach Auriemma has spoke out numerous times and said it was a moment he wishes he could have back and wouldn’t do it again. But it was my instincts, I do what I always do. I try to protect him. I was just trying to diffuse the issue and get it back to the main thing and that was congratulate South Carolina on the great game that they won, so it was not part of the decision at all.”
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As UConn begins to look for a new assistant to fill the large role Elliott has had, her preference was to look ahead to a new role where she believes she can make a contribution to coaching and the sport on a larger canvas.
“What it means to be, being authentic, is I never have to go into a room trying to figure out what I have to say, how I have to look, how I have to act,” she said. “So for me, it’s easy. A lot of people feel like they have to go into a room and turn into this person to be successful in that environment. For me, because I am just able to be who I am in most environments, and hopefully that can be the same thing in this future thing I’m doing, that allows me to wake up and go through life a lot easier.”
Auriemma, Elliott said, has become a friend.
“He’s worn a lot of hats for me, when he was trying to get me recruiting, then I became a part of his team and what he was trying to build here at a very young age, and then I played for him for four years and I became somebody he could trust as part of his team. Then he became my boss, somebody I looked up to as a mentor. Then I went to Cincinnati and he became my competitor. He’s always been somebody who has rooted for me and supported me and to this day if I need something I know I can call on him. The most important role he has played for me, obviously, he’s a friend.”
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UConn’s Geno Auriemma optimistic about finding assistant to replace departing Jamelle Elliott
It is not certain how long Auriemma, 72, plans to continue to coach, though he has given no indication of looking to step away. In her new endeavor, Elliott plans to turn the page on coaching day to day, though she will continue to buy season tickets at Gampel, even if she allows others to use them, and will visit from time to time. The roster she leaves, including the frontcourt players with whom she has worked closely, is capable to making another run at a title.
“I’ve heard this quote a lot, that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans,” Elliott said. “So I’m not going to say never, but right now I am on fire about the Jamelle Elliott Collective and the things I think I can do moving forward to impact so many more people, with so many different demographics. I think I’ll be okay.”
