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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Women’s basketball hires two assistant coaches

Tamika Louis, the newly-hired assistant coach for the women's basketball team, was named Regoin XII Coach of the Year in 2005 while serving as head coach at Mott Community College in Michigan. Photo courtesy of GW Sports Information.

The women’s basketball program will have two new coaches on the sidelines next season, head coach Mike Bozeman announced Tuesday.

Tamika Louis and Kristin Cole will join the Colonials as assistant coaches after the departure of Katie Rokus and Kristeena Alexander from the program.

“I’m excited about having both Tamika and Kristin join our staff,” Bozeman said. “Both coaches have experience engineering top-rated recruiting classes, and it’s a great addition to our program to bring that level of talent to GW. Tamika and Kristin are both winners who have helped build winning programs wherever they’ve been, and that’s the kind of affect I want our coaches to have on our players.”

Louis spent the 2009 to 2011 seasons as an assistant coach at Big East program St. John’s and prior to that, worked as an assistant at Big Ten program Illinois. She will serve as recruiting coordinator, work with the team’s guards and assist with scouting and practice planning.

At St. John’s, Louis helped the Red Storm to a 47-18 overall record, 21-11 mark in the Big East, and back-to-back trips to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She was responsible for the development of the Red Storm’s guards and assisted with game scouting, player academic progress and player mentoring. Prior to that, Louis worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for two seasons at Illinois, helping the Fighting Illini land the third-ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2009 and post a 20-win season in 2008.

Louis was the head coach at Mott Community College from 2002-05, where her teams posted a 58-33 overall record during her three seasons, including a 27-7 mark, perfect 16-0 conference record and NJCAA National Tournament appearance in 2005. She was named the Michigan Community College Athletic Association and Region XII Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season. The Flint, Mich. native served as captain and starting point guard at Fresno State from 1996-98 after beginning her collegiate playing career at West Virginia.

“I’m part of a program that has a great athletic tradition and a desire to be amongst the elite programs in the country. The sky is the limit for this program with incoming athletic director Patrick Nero’s vision and Coach Bozeman’s passion and leadership, and I have a deep sense of gratitude for this opportunity,” Louis said.

Cole worked as the head coach at America East program New Hampshire from 2007-10, and will assist Bozeman with scouting, game preparation, recruiting and player development, specifically the Colonials’ post players. Cole managed all aspects of the UNH program, including signing the Wildcats’ best-ever recruiting class and coaching 2008 America East Rookie of the Year Denise Beliveau and two-time Second Team All-America East selection Candace Williams.

Coach Cole also worked as an assistant coach at A-10 rival Xavier  from 2002 to 2007, Ball State, UNLV and Auburn in the ’90s. At Xavier, she coached and recruited several players who helped turn the Musketeers’ program into a national power, highlighted by Tara Boothe, XU’s all-time leading scorer, and Amber Harris and Ta’Shia Phillips, both of whom were chosen in the Top 10 of the 2011 WNBA Draft. In her 14 seasons of coaching, Cole’s programs have made nine postseason appearances.

From Santa Barbara, Calif., Cole earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Notre Dame in 1994, earning four monograms playing for the women’s basketball team and leading the Irish to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances in 1992 and 1994, as well as three Midwestern Collegiate Conference championships. She won a bronze medal as a participant on the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival Team and played professionally in Sweden after her graduation from Notre Dame.

The Colonials return to the court after a 8-21 2010-11 season, finishing 11th of 14 in the A-10 after falling to Dayton in the first round of the league tournament. GW struggled with injuries for the second year in a row, sidelining as many as five players at one time and forcing the remaining members of the roster to play through their own injuries.

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