Australian Coaching Legend, Four-Time All-Big West Star to Join UO Women's Basketball Staff
EUGENE, Ore. ? Oregon has named Phil Brown and Selena Ho assistant women’s basketball coaches, head coach Bev Smith announced Wednesday.
"These are two incredible coaches who will be joining our staff," said Smith. "We are going to be a different team next year and we’ll have to adjust our style of play and Phil and Selena are going to be a big part of that."
Brown spent the last 20 years at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and coached 11 of the 12 members of the 2004 silver medalist Australian Olympic team, including Lauren Jackson, the 2003 WNBA MVP who also led the Seattle Storm to the 2004 WNBA crown. Jackson is one of 15 current or former Brown-coached players who have played in the WNBA. Other current players include Penny Taylor and Belinda Snell of the Phoenix Mercury and Kristi Harrower of the Minnesota Lynx.
He also coached current Ducks Eleanor Haring and Gabrielle Richards at AIS, as well as former UO players Sally Crowe, Renae Fegent and Natasha Ruckwardt (formerly Natasha O’Brien, who is now Oregon’s director of basketball operations).
The AIS women’s head coach since 1991, Brown is also currently the head coach of the Australian junior national team, and will lead that squad to the World Under 20 tournament in Tunisia this July. He was named WNBL coach of the year in 1998 and 1999, and led AIS to its only WNBL championship in the 1998-99 season. He joined the AIS in 1986 as an assistant coach after stints as a player and a coach with the Canberra Cannons. He was also a men’s and women’s junior coach before moving to AIS.
Brown graduated from the University of Canberra in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in applied science in sports coaching.
"Phil is an incredible addition to our staff and to our University," said Smith. "He is an amazing teacher at this elite level of women’s basketball. He has an incredible rapport with the players and he will be a solid assistant coach for us. Every year his AIS teams played against good college teams and they competed extremely well, so he is very knowledgeable about the college game."
Ho, a four-time All-Big West Conference selection at the University of the Pacific, spent the last three years as an assistant at UC Irvine. One of the best perimeter players in league history, Ho finished her career ranked first all-time in the Big West Conference and 24th among NCAA Division I players in three-pointers made with 271.
Playing for Sherri Murrell, who is now the head coach at Washington State, Ho was named second-team all-Big West her first two seasons at UOP, first team all-Big West her final two seasons and was also honored as the Big West Freshman of the Year in 1998-99. She averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 assists per game as a senior in 2001-02, leading the Tigers to the Big West tournament championship game. That season, she led the conference in free throw percentage (.792) and three-pointers made (2.61), ending her career first in the Big West from the free throw line (.823) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.406).
Ho holds the school record with six Big West Player of the Week honors. She finished her four-year career third on Pacific’s all-time scoring list with 1,651 points, third in assists (430) and ninth in steals (135).
A native of Belmont, Calif., Ho was also honored as the National Strength and Conditioning Association Athlete of the Year as well as a NCSA All-American in 2002. She graduated from Pacific in May of 2002 with a degree in business administration.
"Selena’s dynamic, energetic and personable character is a winning combination when it comes to recruiting," said Smith. "Her experience both as a coach and a player at the Division I level has provided her with a solid foundation of basketball and an understanding of all facets of the game, which she brings to Oregon."
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