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Rutgers hires former star, Scarlet Knights' Hall of Famer Tasha Pointer as assistant coach of women's basketball team

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Former Rutgers women's basketball star Tasha Pointer is returning to the team as an assistant coach.

Coach Coquese Washington announced the hiring of the Scarlet Knights' all-time assists leader on Monday.

"Tasha is a Scarlet Knight legend and I am beyond thrilled that she will, once again, lead our program as an assistant coach," Washington said in a release from the school. "Her experience as a former player and alum, her passion for coaching, and her love for this University are traits that will have a powerful impact on our student-athletes."

This will be Pointer's second stint as an assistant at Rutgers. She served for eight seasons (2007-15) under Naismith Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, who retired earlier this year.

Pointer led Rutgers to the 2000 Final Four, the hallmark of a 128-game career that produced program-record totals of 839 assists and 292 steals while scoring 1,456 points. Pointer was inducted into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

Following a three-year career in the WNBA, Pointer was an assistant coach at Columbia and Xavier before joining Stringer's staff. She later worked at St. John's and Northwestern in 2017-18 before landing her first head-coaching job at UIC from 2018 to '22.