New Rutgers women’s basketball head coach, Gary Redus II, has made the first addition to his new coaching staff, as he has hired former LSU assistant coach Daphne Mitchell. The news was officially announced by LSU head coach Kim Mulkey during a press conference following the teams selection to the NCAA tournament. Both Redus and Mitchell will join the team immediately and will not participate in the Tigers tournament run.
In addition to Redus, Mitchell was also on the 2023 LSU national championship winning team. She has shown an ability to develop physical, front court talents, which should translate well to the Big Ten. She is credited with helping to develop elite talents such as Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow during her time with the Tigers. She also has a strong recruiting background like Redus, playing a major role on LSU’s recruiting teams and Baylor’s before that
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Mitchell’s other coaching experience includes being an assistant coach at Tennessee Tech, Jacksonville, and Murray State before she moved on to be an assistant coach at Baylor for six years from 2015-2021. Her time at Baylor was also spent under Mulkey, during her time as head coach of the Bears.
Mitchell’s name was floated around in the Rutgers community of potential coaches that could replace former head coach Coquese Washington. Now the Knights have two names who were listed as potential head coaches on their coaching staff.
Another interesting connection between the two that could have come into play is that Mitchell, and Redus’ wife, Tiffany, played on the same Georgia Tech squad in the late 2000’s.
