UIC hires Tasha Pointer as new women’s basketball coach

Former Chicago high school basketball star Tasha Pointer has been named the new women’s basketball head coach at UIC, the school announced Tuesday. She will be officially introduced with a press conference set for Wednesday morning.

Pointer, who most recently was an assistant coach at Northwestern, starred at Whitney Young and Rutgers during her playing career. She was named the Sun-Times’ prep basketball player of the year and a Parade First-Team All-American in 1997.

After moving on to college, Pointer continued to star by leading the Scarlet Knights to their first Final Four in 2000. She still holds Rutgers’ record for assists and is enshrined in the school’s Hall of Fame.

Pointer landed her first coaching gigs with Columbia and Xavier before returning to Rutgers in 2008. She then returned to the Chicago area in 2017 by taking an assistant coach job at Northwestern.

Now Pointer is making her leap into the head coaching ranks by replacing Regina Miller at UIC. The Flames peaked with Miller in 2013-14 by going 26-9 and winning the Women’s Basketball Invitational, but cratered over the past two seasons with a combined 14-47 record.