Yesterday excitement was created before the incredible fireworks that went off with Women’s Final Four match-up between Notre Dame and UConn as Maine announced the hiring of Edniesha Curry, making her the only female assistant coach in men’s college basketball.
Maine Basketball on Twitter
Welcome back to #BlackBearNation! Edniesha Curry | Assistant Coach Coach Curry returns to Orono after working with the @NBA Assistant Coaches Program. Full Bio: https://t.co/e6STd1lXbz
Curry is no stranger to the Black Bears, having served as an assistant coach for the University’s women’s basketball team under coach Rick Barron from 2015 – 2017.
“Eddie was an easy choice as an assistant coach,” said head coach Barron said in that same release. “She is extremely talented at developing players – especially within the context of defensive and offensive systems. Eddie teaches skills that can be utilized with frequency in a game. Eddie is also great at scouting opponents as well as ‘self-scouts’ – breaking down video to find areas of improvement. She knows Maine, knows many of our players, and knows me and my style of play. She has great connections around the world from her extensive playing and coaching background. Our players will be very fortunate to have someone as gifted and enthusiastic as Eddie coaching them.”
Curry, an LA native, earned a scholarship to play at Cal State Northridge from 1998 to 2000, where she still remains as the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers (168). She then went on to play for the Ducks at Oregon, becoming an All-Pac 10 honorable mention player and part of the team’s 2002 WNIT championship. She went pro that year, drafted with the 41st pick by the Charlotte Sting, and played in the WNBA for four years with the Sting, Phoenix Mercury and LA Sparks. She also played pro ball overseas in countries such as Greece, Hungary, Israel and Poland.
After retiring in 2009, Curry stayed in the game through development programs and the NBA’s assistant coaching program, so she has the pedigree and experience for any program as well as the understanding of the position and role she has undertaken.
“It’s because of women like Bernadette Mattox and Stephanie Ready that I have been given this opportunity,” Curry said in an interview with ESPNW. “I watched with pride and awe as Bernadette took the sideline in Kentucky, I hope that girls and women see me on the sidelines [at Maine] and realize that they too can coach men’s basketball. Their gender shouldn’t be a limitation.”
