Former UConn Star Svetlana Abrosimova Named GM of Russian National Team

There are a handful of former UConn women’s basketball players in the coaching ranks, namely Jamelle Elliot at Cincinnati, Jennifer Rizzotti at George Washington and Carla Berube at Tufts, to name a few.

However, the list is much shorter for former Huskies in the front office with just Swin Cash, Kelly Schumacher and now Svetlana Abrosimova who was named the general manager of the Russian Women’s Basketball National Team.

Abrosimova, a native of Leningrad, Russia, came to UConn in 1997. During her four years in Storrs, she amassed 1,865 points and was a key piece on the Huskies 2000 championship team.

After her career at UConn, Abrosimova played 11 seasons in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx, Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm, the latter of which she won a WNBA Championship with in 2010.

She played on the Russian National Team from 1999-2011 and helped them win a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and two silver medals at the World Championships in 1998 and 2006. However, she was left off 2012 London Olympic team.

Russia has typically been a top-10 international team since the 1990’s, but has fallen off in recent times. They failed to qualify for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups as well as the 2016 Olympics. Since winning gold in the 2011 European Championships, their highest finish has been just sixth place.

Abrosimova takes over as general manager with the goal of returning her native country to the level of success they had when she starred on the team. If she’s anywhere close to being as good of a GM as a player, Russia’s national team will be back in no time.