Shea Ralph Named Vanderbilt Women's Basketball Head Coach

UConn women's basketball assistant coach Shea Ralph has been named the head coach of the Vanderbilt University women's basketball team.

Ralph has spent the last 13 seasons as an assistant head coach for the Huskies.

"I would like to congratulate Shea on being named the head coach at Vanderbilt University," head coach Geno Auriemma said. "I know everyone here at UConn is incredibly excited for Shea. It's an amazing opportunity to be at such a great university in a great city. Shea has had a huge impact on the UConn women's basketball program, as both a player and a coach. We're going to miss her tremendously – she brought passion and energy to everything she did in Storrs. But we know she's going to do amazing things at Vanderbilt and we wish her the best."

As a player, Ralph helped lead UConn to the 2000 NCAA Championship. She was named an All-American, was the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and also won the Honda Award that same year.

After graduating in 2001, Ralph was drafted byt the WNBA's Utah Starzz.

She returned to the Huskies as an assistant coach and helped guide the team to 13 straight NCAA Final Fours, 25 conference championships, and six NCAA titles.

UConn said it would immediately begin a search for Ralph's replacement.