Elliott Leaves PSU to Become Head Coach at UC San Diego

Elliott went 27-57 with the Vikings and has five-year career head coaching record of 55-91.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Charity Elliott has resigned her position as head women’s basketball coach at Portland State and has been named the new head coach at UC San Diego.

UCSD Director of Athletics Earl W. Edwards announced the hiring by the NCAA Division II program on Friday.

Portland State Athletics will begin a search for a new head coach immediately.

Elliott, who spent three seasons on the Park Blocks, becomes the fifth head coach in the 36-year history of the UCSD program.

The Tritons went 27-5 last season en route to making an appearance in the NCAA Division II Final Four.

“We are thrilled to have Charity on board as our new women’s basketball coach,” said Edwards. “She is extremely qualified and will bring a wealth of passion and knowledge to this program that will help us to maintain our standing among the nation’s elite.”

Elliott replaces former UCSD coach Janell Jones who posted a 50-10 record in her two seasons at helm before leaving to become the head coach at Mercer University, a Division I program located in Macon, Ga.

“I am very excited to be a part of the UCSD family,” said Elliott. “This is a position I have always had my eyes on because of the program’s tradition of academic and athletic excellence. The location was another key factor for me as I have always considered San Diego my second home.”

Elliott went 27-57 with the Vikings and has five-year career head coaching record of 55-91.

She was the head coach at Cal Baptist, an NAIA school, for two seasons from 2001-2003, guiding the Lancers to a 28-34 record. At both Cal Baptist and Portland State, Elliott rebuilt the programs.

In her second season at Cal Baptist, Elliott produced a 16-16 record that snapped the school’s streak of 10 straight losing seasons.

At Portland State, she engineered one of the nation’s biggest improvements during the 2005-06 season.

After the Vikings went 3-23, including 1-13 in the Big Sky Conference, during her first year in 2004-05, Portland State jumped to 12-16 and 6-8 in the conference during her second season.

The nine-win improvement ranked among the nation’s top 20, and the Vikings qualified for the Big Sky Tournament for the first time since 2002-03 season.

Portland State finished 12-18 this past season, including an 8-8 mark in the Big Sky.

The 8-8 conference record was the Vikings’ best since going 9-7 in 2002-03. Portland State also qualified for the Big Sky Tournament for the second straight season.

During the past two seasons, Elliott coached back-to- back Big Sky Outstanding Freshman award winners in guard/forward Kelsey Kahle (2005-06) and guard Claire Faucher (2006-07).

“I’m grateful for all the support at Portland State over the last three seasons,” Elliott said. “I’m very proud of the strides the program was able to make, and feel it will be a very attractive job. There is a very talented group returning for next season and a really strong incoming class coming in. I look forward to watching them have a lot of success.”

“We are obviously sad to see Coach Elliott go,” said Portland State Associate Athletics Director of Internal Affairs and Senior Women’s Administrator Molly Moore. “She has had an extremely positive impact on the direction of our women’s basketball program by recruiting talented student-athletes, who understand the value of working hard in the classroom as well as on the court. We wish her the best in San Diego.”

Elliott took over the Portland State job after serving as an assistant coach for Arkansas for one season in 2003-04, where she helped the Razorbacks to a 16-12 mark.

During her coaching career, she also served in assistant roles with Southwest Baptist (a Division II school that compiled a 56-28 record during her three years), Southwest Missouri State (her alma mater), and San Diego State (under head coach Beth Burns in 1993-94).

A former Division I player, Elliott began her career at Rice University where she played for two seasons.

She averaged 16 points per game as a sophomore before transferring to Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State).

While at SMS, Elliott helped the Bears to a 31-3 record as a senior and the program’s first-ever Final Four appearance in 1992.

In addition to UCSD’s Final Four appearance last year, the Tritons also captured the program’s first-ever CCAA Championships, posting a 19-3 record in league play.

UCSD also would go on to earn the top-seed in the West Regional, hosting the event in RIMAC Arena where the Tritons would defeated No. 2 Chico State by 17 points to earn its first-ever NCAA Division II West Region Championship.

“My immediate goal is to continue the recent tradition of success in this program,” added Elliott. “What Coach Jones did here was remarkable and I am looking forward to the challenge of taking this program a step or two further.”

The program returns 14 student-athletes from last year’s squad including two starters, junior Michelle Osier and senior Jillian Ricks.

Osier is a two-time First Team All- CCAA honoree and has averaged 12.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game through her first two seasons on the La Jolla campus.

Ricks averaged 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in her first season for the Tritons after transferring in from Orange Coast College prior to last season.

Also returning is senior sharpshooter Meaghan Noud. Last year, as a junior, she ranked fourth on the team in scoring with her 9.5 points per game while sinking 36 3- pointers, which ranked second on the squad.

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