Yolanda Griffith, seven-time WNBA All-Star and 2005 Champion of the Sacramento Monarchs. (Photo: Getty Images)
WNBA legend, Yolanda Griffith, formerly of the Sacramento Monarchs. (Photo: Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - Yolanda Griffith, a WNBA Champion, seven-time All-Star with the Sacramento Monarchs and a two-time Olympic gold medalist is headed to Dartmouth where she will join the Ivy League school as an assistant coach for the women's basketball team, beginning this season.
Joined by family and friends at the Natomas Club House, Griffith was given a grand send-off party as she leaves her Sacramento home behind for her new venture in Hanover, New Hampshire with the "Big Green", under head coach Chris Wielgus.
"I've been waiting for such a long time for an opportunity to break into coaching and, I'm overwhelmed," Griffith told News10 on Thursday night. "When I found out, I was so ecstatic...With the Monarchs, I was a player, coach, mentor - I was everything. I think that's what helped me become the individual I am."
Griffith, now 41, played with the now defunct Sacramento Monarchs for nine seasons after they drafted her second overall in 1999 from the American Basketball League.
During her time with the Monarchs, Griffith would enjoy many accolades including a WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and WNBA MVP Award in her first season with Sacramento in 1999.
When Sacramento won the WNBA Championship in 2005, Griffith was named the WNBA Finals MVP after averaging 17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 30.8 minutes per game in eight playoff games.
Griffith left the Monarchs in 2008 to play with a star studded Seattle Storm team in 2008 where her season was ended in the first round of the WNBA playoffs to the Los Angeles Sparks.
She would sign with the Indiana Fever in 2009, her final season in the league but her year was cut short after tearing her achilles tendon in June. Later in November, the Sacramento Monarchs folded their franchise, ending its 12-year existence.
She remained with the Fever as a Player Development coach in 2009 following her injury and then began the All About Us Girls, Inc., an organization that works with school districts to establish leadership programs for middle school and high school girls. She also began working as a head trainer for her own basketball program "Training With Yo".
Griffith, already member of the WNBA's All-Decade team was also named to the league's Top 15 Players of All Time during this year's WNBA All-Star break. She and 14 other players, including Monarchs teammate Ticha Penichiero, were selected by a panel of media members and basketball experts from a 30-nominee ballot.
As she pursues her coaching dream, Griffith will have her hands full in her first season with the Big Green women's team, as they will try to right the ship, following a rough 7-21 overall record, going only 3-11 in the Ivy League. Griffith said the school is welcoming nine freshman, some among the top five players in the country.
By Sean Cunningham, SCunningham@News10.net
Twitter: @News10Sean
News10/KXTV