For the second time in as many days, the Arizona Wildcats have lost an assistant coach.
April Phillips joined Calβs staff as an assistant coach on Thursday, returning closer to her Long Beach, California, hometown. Her move came one day after another of Adia Barnesβ aides, Morgan Valley, was named head coach at Hartford.
βI am beyond excited to return to the state that raised me & to the TOP ranked Public School in the Country!β Phillips tweeted on Thursday, adding the hashtags #Blessed and #Thankful.
Phillips joined the UA staff last summer, when Sunny Smallwood left for a similar job at Montana. Another assistant, Kelly Rae Finley, left for Florida following the 2016-17 season.
This weekβs moves leave Barnes, coach of the Wildcatsβ red-hot, WNIT-championship program, with a new recruiting task. The UA went 24-13, an 18-win turnaround from the previous season. But Salvo Coppa, Barnesβ husband, is the lone assistant left on staff.
Valleyβs new job is 26 miles away from Storrs, Connecticut, where she spent her college playing days. UConnn coaching legend Geno Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey and others from the Huskiesβ program showed up to Valleyβs Thursday morning news conference to show support.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Valley, a Vermont native who has said her years at UConn were four of the best. She even warned the crowd Thursday that it might βget emotional.β
βIβm so excited and honored to be back in the state which is so special to me,β she said. βI spent some of the most memorable times of my life here, and this is honestly a dream come true.β
Valley has been an assistant coach for 14 years. She spent the last four years on the West Coast, including two at Washington and two at Arizona. She has coached in three NCAA Tournaments, making deep runs to the Sweet 16 and Final Four. She played in four Final Fours at UConn and won three national championships.
Hartford is coming off three consecutive winning seasons. Valley replaces Kim McNeill, who was hired away by East Carolina.
Valley said she hopes her first team will be tough.
βI want the opponent to walk into the locker room being banged up, tired, and feeling like they just went to battle. Thatβs what I envision,β she said. βThatβs what I hope to portray to the teams that I coach. Thatβs tough.β
Phillips is filling a role at Cal left vacant when Charmin Smith was added to the WNBAβs New York Liberty staff earlier this month. Smith spent 12 years with the Golden Bears.
Phillips joined Barnesβ UA staff from Loyola Marymount, where she spent three years. Phillips was previously a coordinator of basketball operations at Seton Hall, where she worked with Hall of Fame coach Anne Donovan.
As a player, Phillips spent one year at Georgia Tech before transferring to Xavier. While with the Musketeers, she went to the NCAA Tournament three times and won two Atlantic 10 titles.
At Arizona, Phillips worked primarily with post players Cate Reese, Dominique McBryde, Destiny Graham and Semaj Smith. She was also the Wildcatsβ recruiting coordinator.
Now Phillips joins a Cal program that went 20-13 last season and lost to Baylor β the eventual national champion β in the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona upset the Golden Bears on Jan. 11 in Tucson, then lost in overtime in Berkeley on Feb. 24.
