Heading into the summer, Colorado State women’s basketball will be down one assistant coach. Assistant Coach Brooke Atkinson has been hired to replace recently departed New Mexico State Head Coach Mark Trakh, according to a report by SB Nation’s swishappeal.com.
The deal was finalized Tuesday afternoon, according to the report. Colorado State could not confirm the move at this point in time, but Atkinson is expected to be introduced as head coach in an introductory press conference on Wednesday, May 3 in the Barbara Hubbard Room of the Pan American Center Annex. The event will be streamed on Facebook Live @NMSUAthletics.
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Atkinson has served as an assistant under head coach Ryun Williams since 2014. In each of Atkinson’s three seasons at CSU, the Rams won at least a share of the regular season conference championship and reached a postseason tournament.
Prior to her time at CSU, Atkinson also worked on Ryun Williams’ staff at South Dakota. In three seasons with the Coyotes, she helped lead them to three postseason berths, including the team’s first ever NCAA Division I tournament in 2014.
Before USD, Atkinson was an assistant coach at New Mexico State from 2003-2010. In 2005, Atkinson was promoted to second assistant in 2005 and later won the school’s Outstanding Coach Award in 2008.
A Colorado native, Atkinson attended Westminster High School before beginning her collegiate playing career at Western Nebraska Community College. She then moved on to Wichita State, where she played her final two seasons.
Atkinson graduated from Wichita State in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She later earned her master’s degree from New Mexico State in educational curriculum in 2008.
Collegian sports director Justin Michael can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or Twitter @JustinTMichael.