Former Los Angeles Sparks star Delisha Milton-Jones has accepted an assistant Coach position at Syracuse University, following two seasons as the head coach of the Pepperdine women’s basketball program.

“With this being my first real job – because playing basketball definitely never felt like a job – being able to be employed by Pepperdine University has been an awesome experience,” Milton-Jones said in a statement. “It felt like an expedited course of learning in my short time here. I have a lot of appreciation for President Andy Benton and Athletic Director Steve Potts.”

Milton-Jones explained why she decided to accept the job.

“Heading to Syracuse is a stepping stone toward something greater. What that is, I don’t know yet, but for anyone who wants to be more skilled in their craft, it will serve me well to be put in a position to learn from the best. Me being a young coach, I’ve been leaning on my own understanding from playing 17 years in the WNBA and being an Olympian. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge. But sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. And you need to put yourself out there and learn other perspectives and learn from those who have been there and done that. I think I’m heading to a position that will afford me the luxury of being able to position myself to learn more, be more, experience more, and become more of a complete coach,” said Milton-Jones.

Milton-Jones joined Pepperdine’s staff as an assistant coach for the 2016-2017 season and was then promoted to head coach one year later.  She had a two-year record of 32-32 with Pepperdine, but helped engineer one of the nation’s biggest turnarounds in 2018-19 as the Waves went from 10-20 to 22-12. The Waves were one of just nine Division I teams to improve by as many as 12 wins.

The all-time great won two Olympic gold medals (2000 and 2008) and ended her WNBA career with the record for most games played (499) while ranking fifth in steals (619), sixth in rebounds (2,574), and ninth in points (5,571). She was a three-time WNBA All-Star and helped the Los Angeles Sparks win back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com