University of Hartford women's basketball head coach and former University of Connecticut women’s basketball standout Jennifer Rizzoti was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Hall of Fame, as announced by the organization on Thursday.
Created in 1988, the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame® recognizes Academic All-Americas who received college diploma at least 10 years ago, have achieved lifetime success in their professional careers, and are committed to philanthropic causes.
Drew Brees, Dr. Angelo Capozzi, Fred Hoiberg, Dr. James I Cash Jr. and Rizzotti will be inducted into the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame at CoSIDA's annual convention in Dallas, Texas on Monday, June 13th during the organization's annual Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Hilton Anatole. The CoSIDA Convention is part of the annual National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and Affiliates Convention for a fourth straight year.
Rizzotti, a two-time Kodak All-American and NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player was a member of the UConn women’s basketball team from 1992-1996, leading the Huskies to a 117-18 record. She was the starting point guard on the Huskies’ first NCAA National Championship team in 1995, which finished the season with a perfect 35-0 record and finished her career at Connecticut with 1,540 points, 637 assists and 349 steals.
In 1996, Rizzotti was the Big East Player of the Year, the Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year, GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, the Associated Press Player of the Year, the Honda-Broderick Cup winner as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, Associated Press All-American, USBWA All-American and the Wade Trophy winner.
In five seasons in the WNBA, two with the Houston Comets and three with the Cleveland Rockers, Rizzotti won two WNBA Championships finishing her career with 458 points, 264 assists and 349 steals. She also competed for three seasons with the New England Blizzard in the American Basketball League. She went to become the head coach for the gold-medal winning teams at the 2011 U19 World Championships and the 2010 FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women.
In 16 seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Hartford (236-121), she has tallied 305 victories in her tenure, the most among all current and former America East head coaches and has guided her teams to six NCAA tournament appearances.