MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine women’s basketball coach Julie Rousseau completed the makeover of her coaching staff today, as she announced that Maylana Martin Douglas, Darryl Brown and Maurice Hilliard will be her assistant coaches for the upcoming season.

 

Martin Douglas was an assistant coach at UCLA the past four seasons, Brown was the head coach at Cheyney University the past two seasons and Hilliard has been a member of Pepperdine’s athletic department the past seven years, most recently as an academic coordinator. He is also a former high school and college coach.

 

“Our former staff did a wonderful job for our program, but timing and circumstances have allowed this new staff to evolve,” said Rousseau, who is heading into her fifth season. “I am extremely excited about the new beginning and the freshness that this staff brings. I’m happy about the chemistry and camaraderie that has already begun to develop. I think it’s going to be a blessing to our university, our women’s basketball program and to the student-athletes that they will impact.”

 

Each of last season’s assistant coaches moved on, as Vanessa Nygaard headed to the WNBA as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Silver Stars, Shelley Sheetz returned to Colorado to become an assistant at the University of Denver and Tina Samaniego left to pursue other opportunities.

 

Martin Douglas was one of UCLA’s all-time great players, earning Kodak All-American first team honors in 1999 and winding up second on the school’s all-time scoring list with 2,101 points. During her four-year career from 1997-2000, the Bruins made three NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the Elite Eight in 1999.

 

Following a two-year career in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx that was curtailed by injury, Martin began her coaching career and spent the 2002-03 season at Portland before heading back to UCLA for the 2003-04 season. In four seasons in Westwood, the Bruins went 67-56 overall, and in 2006 they won the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round and were ranked #21 in the country.

 

“What drew me here is Julie and the opportunities here,” Martin Douglas said. “Pepperdine is a great university, in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and it has a great basketball tradition. The balance that everything provides here bodes well for the program’s future.”

 

Brown was the women’s head basketball coach at Cheyney University, an NCAA Division II school in Cheyney, Pa., the past two years and was an assistant coach the two years before that. His 2007-08 team posted the school’s best record in 18 years and Brown earned Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors. Cheyney went 11-16 overall and took third place in the PSAC’s Eastern Division at 7-5.

 

Brown has also been an assistant coach at the college level at Temple (1998-2000 and Montclair State (2001-02) and also had an excellent record as an assistant high school coach in Pennsylvania.

 

“I’m really pleased to be here,” Brown said. “First and foremost, my relationship and the tremendous respect I have for Coach Rousseau is the first thing that brought me here. The uniqueness of this university is a special draw. I’m looking forward to this team’s success both academically and athletically.”

 

Hilliard has also worked as the Director of Operations for the Pepperdine men’s basketball team during his tenure at Pepperdine. Before arriving in Malibu, he taught and coached at the high school level for more than 10 years and enjoyed a two-year stint as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Biola University from 1999-2001.

 

He started his teaching and coaching career in 1989 when he began a seven-year stint at Bassett High School in La Puente, Calif. As the boys’ basketball coach, Bassett won the CIF Southern Section championship in 1994, a first-ever accomplishment for the program. He also taught and coached at Cerritos Valley Christian High (2000-01), Anaheim Hills Canyon High (1997-99) and Ontario Christian High (1996-97).

 

“I had wanted to get back into coaching, and Julie presented me with an opportunity to coach with her,” Hilliard said. “Going into my eighth year here at Pepperdine, it is a nice chance to help her and change things in a positive way.”