The LSU women’s basketball team has a new addition to its coaching staff.Joni Crenshaw, who served as associate head coach at Alabama for the past two seasons, was appointed as an LSU assistant coach Tuesday, LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor announced.
Crenshaw has experience coaching at the collegiate level in Louisiana, as she was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Louisiana Tech for two seasons and the associate coach there for one season.The Lady Techsters won two Western Athletic Conference championships in her first two years on campus, where she was also recruiting coordinator.”I made a lot of great relationships with high school coaches and AAU coaches in [Louisiana], so I am very familiar with the area,” Crenshaw said in a news release. “This is exciting to come back to a state where I have previous experience. I am extremely excited about the opportunity to become a part of the Lady Tiger family and to work for Van Chancellor, an Olympic coach with four WNBA titles, and a program that has gone to five straight Final Fours in recent years.”Chancellor echoed Crenshaw’s emotions about the hire.”I am extremely pleased to have Joni join our staff,” Chancellor said. “She’s grown up in the [Southeastern Conference], having both played and coached in this league. She is going to do a tremendous job recruiting for us, and she will be a great role model for our players.”Crenshaw previously served as recruiting coordinator for three years at Troy University until 2005, where she was also academic coordinator and in charge of developing post players.Crenshaw said she sees the job at LSU as a way to enhance her coaching career.”I am excited about what the entire staff brings to women’s basketball as a whole and the opportunity to … continue to grow as a basketball coach,” Crenshaw said.Crenshaw graduated from Alabama in 2002 after four years of playing basketball there. Crenshaw was a center and team captain her senior season and recorded 716 points, 555 rebounds and 103 blocked shots in her career.In 2001, Crenshaw was recognized as one of the 10 most influential African Americans on the Alabama campus by the Mentor Fellowship Society.Crenshaw’s hire is pending approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors.—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]