New Dayton women’s basketball assistant coach says program is easy to sell to recruits

Washington was most recently at the Boo Williams Invitational in Hampton, Va., for three days. He and the rest of the staff have added Maryland transfer Taisiya Kozlova, whose signing was announced Thursday; freshman Nayo Lear, and Ohio State transfer Anyssa Jones.

NCAA women’s basketball teams can have as many as 15 scholarship players. Dayton has six spots open.

Washington joined Williams-Jeter’s staff in early April along with assistant coach Bryce Agler. The hiring of the third assistant coach, Kalisha Keane, the Big Ten Player of the Year at Michigan State in 2011, was announced April 28.

Washington returns to college coaching two years after an eight-year run at Texas ended. From 2012-20, he was a part of six NCAA tournament teams. The Longhorns advanced to the Sweet 16 four times during his tenure and to the Elite Eight once. He coached on the staff of Karen Aston, who was fired after the 2019-20 season.

Washington served as the recruiting coordinator at Texas and had four classes ranked in the top six in the nation.

After leaving Texas, Washington and his family moved to Louisville, Ky. He spent one season coaching at Mercy Academy and then one year as an assistant athletic director at Christian Academy, where his sons George, Jackson and Jayden go to school. His oldest son George Washington III, one of the top recruits in the class of 2023, committed to Ohio State in November.

Washington said he and his wife Jackie have not decided where his sons will go to school in the Dayton area. They are still in Louisville and plan to visit schools in the Dayton area and see what they like.

Washington wanted to get back into college coaching but said the break was good for him.

“It allowed me to spend time with my family,” he said, “and help my oldest go through the recruiting process and get some of that lost time I had from the previous 20 years coaching.

Prior to coaching at Texas, Washington coached girls basketball in Texas with DFW Elite (2009-12), Houston Heat (2003-12) and the CyFair Texans (2006-09). He also coached high school basketball at St. Thomas Episcopal and Westbury Christian in Houston.

Washington said there are similarities between the situations he entered at Texas and Dayton.

“We want to recruit the best,” he said. “We’ve been to the Sweet 16. We’ve been to the Elite Eight. The next step for a program that’s been to the Elite Eight is the Final Four, so you’ve got to recruit at a high level to do that. That’s what Texas prepared me for.”

Washington stayed on top of recruiting during his two years away from the college game. He worked with Blue Star Camps, which holds recruiting events, during that time.

“I never lose track,” he said. “It’s what I do. I recruit. That’s what I’m known for.”

Now Washington gets to recruit for a program that has earned 10 NCAA tournament berths in the last 13 seasons. He said Williams-Jeter, who was hired March 26, has brought energy to the process of building the roster this spring.

“First off, she’s really locked into our our current players,” Washington said. “She’s done a masterful job at assembling a staff. We’ve had a couple of recruits come in over the last couple of weeks, and they’ve all said the same thing. They all say, ‘It feels like you guys have been coaching together for years.’ Our cohesion is really strong. We just hit the ground running, and she’s been spearheading that.”