Washington hire gives Lady Lions a fresh start
For a while, Coquese Washington figured coaching was just something good to do while she was still playing professionally. She expected that once her playing days were over, she'd end up practicing law full time.
Washington, a former player (1989-93), law-school grad (1997) and assistant (1999-2007) at Notre Dame, was introduced this week as Penn State's new coach. She spoke with me by phone Tuesday, which was her son Quenton's second birthday. He wanted to go to the park and play on the swings, so that's where she was headed.
Rene Portland resigned last month after 27 years running the Penn State program, and the obvious question for Washington is this: How will she go about establishing herself as the new boss?
"There's nothing for me to do except be me," said Washington, who is originally from Flint, Mich. "Any time you have this kind of change, you have an adjustment period. There's obviously going to be a difference in Penn State women's basketball.
"Because the two head coaches are different people. I came of age of 1980s inner city, and that's completely different than when Rene Portland came of age. So we're going to have two different personalities and perspectives, but I think we have in common the desire to be successful. And the desire to have young women come to Penn State University and leave having had the best basketball, the best social and the best academic experience they could have had."
Of course, not everybody had the best experiences playing for Portland. Jennifer Harris' lawsuit against Portland and the school, which was settled in February, brought forward other people who were not happy with the way Portland had treated them at Penn State.
As you might expect, Washington walked the line on Portland. Washington distanced herself by pointing out the obvious differences between herself and Portland -- but also praised the longtime leader of the program.
"Her history, starting from Immaculata and getting women's basketball off the ground -- I don't think you can sweep that under the rug because of the recent issues," Washington said. "I don't think it's fair to forget about the accomplishments and the things she did for the game."
Certainly, Portland's success is well-documented … but that's not the first thing that a lot of women's basketball followers think of when Portland is mentioned. Which is why her departure was best for Penn State; it had been carrying around a lot of excess baggage a long time.
I credit Washington's mentor, Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw, for giving a straightforward answer when asked about that.
"I think there needs to be some healing there," McGraw said of Penn State. "And Coquese was a great choice for that. You get somebody that's from the outside and coming from a different perspective and background.
"It was good for them to take someone who didn't have a connection to Penn State, and really start fresh."
Washington played point guard for the Irish, and McGraw will tell you that like a lot of coaches, she is hardest on her point guards. But she also respects those players, and she said she saw early on in Washington all the elements that could make her a good head coach.
Still, McGraw laughs when remembering what she often said to Washington.
"I kept telling her, 'you're too smart to be in coaching,' " McGraw said. "When she was in the WNBA, she was the player rep because of her law degree; she did a lot of work for them.
"She has a really interesting background that makes her very analytical. She is very, very calm and poised under pressure. She never has emotional flare-ups; she's incredibly steady. Her demeanor is amazing. She will step back and examine things, but she's quick on her feet, too."
Washington said her "calmness" comes both from her natural personality and her law training. She brings that to Penn State, but also her experience as pro player who understands the labor issues and financial aspects of the WNBA as well as anybody. She was founding president of the WNBA Players' Association from 1999-2001, then executive vice president of the players' union from 2001-2003.
"All of the experiences helped shape me," she said. "The biggest thing is leadership. On all those levels, I've had to become a leader in different capacities. Whether it was with my teammates and being a captain, or in a law firm or law school, or the WNBA Players' Aassociation.
"In all those experiences, I got different perspectives of leadership. One thing law school definitely teaches you is how to solve problems. As a coach, you deal with a lot of issues. It was something that really translated for me to coaching from law."
McGraw said she thinks Washington is able to command respect from players but also relate well to them. When Washington met with her new team, she joked that the players didn't have a lot to say.
"Oh, man, they were quiet," she said. "They were just sitting there like, 'Oh, what she going to do?'
"But it was good. The body language and the leadership I could already see from some of them -- I think it's going to be a very good situation. I have a great feeling from them, and hopefully they got the same from me."
Mechelle Voepel of The Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com.
