Former UConn forward Willnett Crockett was awaiting a phone call regarding an opportunity to play professionally in France last July. What she received instead changed her entire course of action.
Crockett received a text message from Temple coach Tonya Cardoza, who was an assistant for the Huskies during her career. Cardoza wanted to know how she felt about coaching. It was a profession that Crockett wanted to get into at some point in the future.
But Cardoza wasn’t talking about the future. Brittany Hunter, another former Husky, had left her staff after just one season to return to school. Cardoza wanted Crockett to fill the void.
It didn’t take her long to accept Cardoza’s invitation, viewing it as an opportunity she could not pass up. Even at the age of 25.
“That was something I thought about,’’ Crockett said referring to her desire to continue her playing career. “I’m still young. But it was a great situation. It’s somebody who I loved when I was in school and I knew that she was going to make sure that I was taken care of. She was going to make sure that I knew the ins and outs in coaching. And why not do it with somebody that you know. I think because I had a relationship with her it was kind of one of those things like, `Oh, wow. She thinks that much of me that she thinks I’m capable of doing something like this.’ And sometimes you just don’t want to pass things up. You don’t know if a job like that is going to come along again, and it was just something I had to say … Playing, I’d rather walk away from it then be hurt and be devastated and be like, `I can’t play anymore.’ So I stuck with it and I said, `You know what? Why not?’’’
Crockett went to Temple for an official interview in August and was hired. She said she works with the post players and recruits as well as doing other things for the team.
The eighth-seeded Owls could meet UConn in the second round Tuesday night. They will meet ninth-seeded James Madison in the first round today.
“When I first got the job, Willnett was somebody I thought about hiring but she was still playing,’’ Cardoza said. “When Brittany decided to go back to school … Will is just a person I respect. She’s loyal. She’s a hard worker. I just had a conversation the other day. She’s a lot like myself when I was at UConn my first couple years where she doesn’t say a lot. She only speaks when spoken to. I told her, `You’re a lot like I am, and one of the things that’s going to help you grow is if you get out of your shell a lot earlier. There are things you have you might be thinking and you need to utter those things now and not hold onto them.’ But I think she’s done a great job recruiting. Our players have improved drastically over the last couple months with her. I think she’s going to be a really good coach. The players respect her. She is a loyal individual and I’m glad she gave up playing to come and coach with me.’’
Crockett scored 602 points and grabbed 583 rebounds in 131 games in her career with the Huskies, one that spanned 2002-2006. She was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks with the 22nd overall pick in 2006 and played five games for Phoenix Mercury in 2008. She has also played professionally in Latvia, Africa and Lithuania.
“I’m actually enjoying myself,’’ Crockett said. “It was a decision that I don’t regret and I’m glad that I made. I think I like teaching, period. I think coaching, I know for me, they did a great job of bringing out something I didn’t know I had in me. I think this is a valuable time in their lives where you need somebody to instill something in you. So if I can give that to them that’s something I wanted to do. And to do it with Tonya, somebody I know, why not?’’
Temple has another UConn connection in Trumbull High graduate and Shelton native Stacey Nasser. She is in her second season as a graduate assistant under Cardoza, who like Crockett, pursued Nasser after she graduated from UConn in 2008.
Nasser, who had previously been a manager at UConn, will earn a master’s degree in sport management in May. She said she returns home every couple of months.
“I’ve enjoyed it so far,’’ Nasser said. “It’s almost over, but I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I think my next step is probably a (director of basketball operations) job or something of that effect and then maybe eventually get into coaching (at the college level).’’
Cardoza was in Connecticut last Saturday to see Kolbe Cathedral’s Cherelle Moore play.
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