The former UConn and WNBA star has become one of the top coaches in the nation for the Hartford Hawks.
It was NCAA Tournament media day March 15, 1996 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., and the University of Massachusetts women’s basketball team had made the dance for the first time with an at-large bid earned from a 20-win season.
That day, players from UMass and its first-round opponent, Michigan State, were made available for interviews on the court. As the time limit for those interviews was about to expire, players from the University of Connecticut and Howard University – the second game of the regional – walked onto the court for their required turn with the press.
UConn senior point guard Jennifer Rizzotti was among the players awaiting the onslaught of Connecticut beat reporters. As the UConn dynasty grew so did the horde of reporters covering the team and the demands on the players. Rizzotti handled it all with ease.
After the 1994-95 season, Rizzotti landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated as UConn went 35-0 and won the national championship. In 1995-96, she captured the Honda-Broderick Cup as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, and was named The Associated Press Player of the Year after compiling 212 assists and 112 steals.
Sixteen years have gone by, and for those who have lost track, Rizzotti is in her 14th season as head coach at the University of Hartford.
Basketball is only part of her life now, albeit a big part. She is 38, the wife of Hartford assistant coach Bill Sullivan, and the mother of two boys – Holden 7, and Conor 4.
“The kids are playing soccer, not ready yet for basketball,” Rizzotti said Wednesday night after Hartford outlasted UMass 71-65 at the Mullins Center.
On this night before Thanksgiving, there would be no media blitz, just two reporters. But that didn’t matter to Rizzotti. During her post-game talk she raved about freshman redshirt center Katie Roth (17 points), and how she was a basketball junkie, and if tomorrow wasn’t Thanksgiving, she’d be out thee practicing on the court. The coach’s enthusiasm matched Roth’s play.
And with the Hawks already 5-0, Rizzotti boasts a career coaching record of 260 wins and 150 losses since taking over in 1999-2000. She has had only one losing season (7-21, her fourth year). Her teams have made some type of post-conference playoffs (NCAA tournament, WNIT) for eight straight seasons.
With the commitments of family life, does the former New England Blizzard and WNBA star still enjoy the coaching as much as when she began?
“I enjoy it more,” she said. “Early, it was a little harder. It took about five years for me to get the culture I wanted, and to have my own players. You can have someone else’s player, and that player can even be good, but it’s not the same, they’re still not yours.”
Rizzotti said she has “better patience” as a coach, able to put everything in perspective with the wisdom of becoming a wife and a mom..
“I’ve gotten better at developing players,” she said, especially proud that all but one player in her 14 years was able to get game-time action.
Rizzotti said her teams cannot be compared to each other, they all have their own personality.
“Every team is unique,” she said. “And every team has found a way to win.”
And Rizzotti has had helped former Hawks become coaches, such as standout guard Jackie Smith of Holyoke, who is now in her second season as an assistant at Stonehill College.