UConn women’s basketball brought back a familiar name to fill the coaching vacancy left by Marisa Moseley, hiring former graduate assistant Jasmine Lister. The news was first reported by SNY’s Carl Adamec.
“Words cannot describe how excited and grateful I am to have the opportunity to return to UConn!” Lister said in the release. “When I was a graduate assistant, the biggest lesson I learned from Coach Auriemma is life is all about timing and when to execute. I cannot wait to work with this excellent staff and team again. Once a Husky, always a Husky!”
Lister spent 2014-2016 with the Huskies and was a part of two championship teams. She is expected to coach the guards, meaning fellow assistant Shea Ralph will shift to bigs coach.
“I couldn’t be happier to have Jasmine back on my staff,” head coach Geno Auriemma said. “Over the last two years, she had great opportunities to work at two really good schools. She is going to bring the same energy, enthusiasm and passion that she had as a player to our coaching staff. We are thrilled to have Jasmine back in Storrs.”
A native of Corona, CA, Lister comes to Storrs from DePaul, where she spent one season as an assistant to Doug Bruno — a close friend of Auriemma. Before that, she was at Washington for a year where she helped coach Kelsey Plum, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer and top pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft.
Lister played college ball at Vanderbilt from 2010-14, starting all 129 games of her career, earning three All-SEC honors. In 2013, Lister and the Commodores faced UConn in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a game the Huskies won 77-44. She also played seven games in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2015 and was a member of the US Olympic scout team during the 2016 national team training camp at UConn.
The addition of Lister is the first change to Auriemma’s staff since the 2009 season when Moseley was brought in to replace Jamelle Elliot. Rising seniors Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson are the only two players on the team remaining from Lister’s initial stint with the Huskies.