COACHING CHRONOLOGY
| Year(s) |
Position |
University |
| 2019 - present |
Assistant Coach |
Rutgers |
2018 - 19
|
Assistant Athletic Director-
Women’s Basketball Operations |
Rutgers
|
| 2007 - 18 |
Director of Operations |
Rutgers |
| 2005 - 06 |
Associate Director of Operations |
Rutgers |
| 2004 - 05 |
Assistant Coach |
Rutgers |
| 2003 - 04 |
Coordinator of Operations |
Rutgers |
COLLEGIATE PLAYING EXPERIENCE
1984 - 88
|
Iowa
- 1988 - Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball Award
- 1988 - Big Ten Player of the Year
- 1988 - Kodak, Naismith and USBWA All-American
- 1988 - Champion National Player of the Year
- 1986, 1987, 1988 - Three-time All-Big Ten selection
- Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee - 2014
- First Hawkeye to have jersey retired
- Big Ten Athlete of the Decade
- Iowa Hall of Fame, 2000
- Iowa’s Top-50 Athletes of the Century
|
PROFESSIONAL PLAYING EXPERIENCE
WNBA
| 2000 - 01 |
Seattle Storm |
1997 - 00
|
Cleveland Rockers
- Second overall selection in the inaugural WNBA Draft
|
INTERNATIONAL
1988 - 98
|
Italy (Faenza, Pistoia, Ferrara Pavia)
• Italian League All-Star and Most Valuable Player |
HIGH SCHOOL
1980 - 88
|
Cathedral High School
- 1984 Boston Globe Player of the Year
- First player in state history to score 2,000 career points
|
Michelle Edwards, a former collegiate national player of the year, international all-star, WNBA franchise player and 2014 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, begins her 19th season on the Rutgers staff. The 2021-22 season marks her third season serving as an assistant coach after previously working as the Director of Operations since 2005. This is her fourth season overall at Rutgers as an assistant coach, having held the title for the 2004-05 season.
A native of Boston, Mass., Edwards played for Hall of Fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer at the University of Iowa from 1984-88. Following a freshman season in which she helped lead the Hawkeyes to a 20-8 record, Edwards piloted UI to back-to-back NCAA Tournament regional final appearances (1987, 1988) and a No. 1 national ranking.
As a senior, Edwards - nicknamed `Ice’ for her ability to hit the clutch shot - was selected the Big Ten Player of the Year, a Kodak, Naismith and USBWA All-American and the Champion National Player of the Year.
A 2000 Iowa Hall of Fame inductee, she is the only female Hawkeye to have her jersey retired. She posted career totals that still rank in the top-three more than twenty years later, having scored 1,821 points (third all-time), 431 assists (second) and 235 steals (third). Edwards was selected as one of Iowa’s “Top 50 Athletes of the Century” as well as the Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Decade in 1989.
Edwards, who won a bronze medal at the 1991 Pan-American Games under Stringer’s tutelage, played professionally in Italy from 1988-97. She earned three Italian League All-Star Game MVP awards during her stay. Edwards returned to the States when the WNBA was formed and was the second allocation from the original group of 16 “franchise” players. Edwards played a total of five seasons (1997-2001) for the Cleveland Rockers and Seattle Storm, averaging 7.6 points and 2.8 assists per game. While a member of the WNBA, she was very active in the community. She worked with several Cleveland charities as well as the NBA’s “Read to Achieve” program.
Following the end of her professional playing career, Edwards served as a youth basketball advisor/community relations representative for the YMCA in New York City. She also added to her resume a career in broadcasting. Edwards was the Fox Sports Net color analyst for Cleveland games during the 2003 season and served as the color analyst for the Rutgers Radio Network during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 women’s basketball seasons.
Edwards graduated from Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts in 1989 and earned her master’s degree in Labor Studies from Rutgers in 2016.
In the summer of 2010, Edwards graduated from the NCAA Leadership Institute, delivering the commencement address. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. in the summer of 2014.
