LaTonya Watson is coming back to Boulder.
She has been named an assistant women’s basketball coach at Colorado, head coach Linda Lappe announced today.
Watson, a Colorado assistant under Ceal Barry from 1996-2005, returns to Boulder after serving three years as an assistant coach at American University (2008-11) and three years coaching and teaching in the high school ranks in Georgia.
“LaTonya brings a lot of experience to the University of Colorado and we are thrilled to have her on our staff,” Lappe said. “She is a great Buff and knows the passion it takes for a program to be successful. A teacher by nature, she will do a great job mentoring and developing our guards just as she has in the past both at CU and American University.”
Watson’s first season at Colorado coincided with the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996 and she rejoins the Buffaloes as they enter the Pacific-12 Conference for the 2011-12 season.
“I want to be a part of making Colorado one of the premier teams in the Pac-12,” Watson said. “I feel invested into the program and (the chance) to help a former player that I had the honor of helping to be successful, makes me excited to be coming back.”
At American, Watson assisted the Eagles to a three-year record of 63-31 (.670), back-to-back Patriot League regular season titles (2010, ’11), consecutive appearances in the league tournament championship game (2010, ’11) and repeat appearances in the Postseason WNIT (2009, ’10).
Watson’s first stint with Colorado spanned nine seasons, resulting in a record of 152-92 and five NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2002 Elite Eight. She was the academic liaison on Barry’s staff, working closely with the Herbst Academic Center in monitoring and mentoring the academic needs of the program. Watson helped the team achieve a top-25 ranking on the 1999 WBCA team honor roll. During her coaching tenure 92 percent (22 of 24) of all players graduated.
