Jennifer Rizzotti

Jennifer Marie Rizzotti (born May 15, 1974)^[1] is an American former collegiate and professional basketball player, and former Division I coach at George Washington University.^[2][3] She is the president of the Connecticut Sun. Rizzotti was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Jennifer Rizzotti

Connecticut Sun
Position	President
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	(1974-05-15) May 15, 1974 (age 51) White Plains, New York, U.S.
Listed height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Listed weight	146 lb (66 kg)
Career information
High school	New Fairfield (New Fairfield, Connecticut)
College	UConn (1992–1996)
WNBA draft	1999: 4th round, 48th overall pick
Drafted by	Houston Comets
Playing career	1996–2003
Position	Point guard
Number	21
Coaching career	1999–present
Career history
As a player:
1996–1998	New England Blizzard
1999–2000	Houston Comets
2001–2003	Cleveland Rockers
As a coach:
1999–2016	Hartford
2016–2021	George Washington
Career highlights
As player: 2× WNBA champion (1999, 2000) NCAA champion (1995) Women's Basketball Academic All-American of the Year (1996) Honda-Broderick Cup (1996) Wade Trophy (1996) AP Player of the Year (1996) Honda Sports Award (1996) Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (1996) All-American – USBWA (1996) 2x Kodak All-American (1995, 1996) First-team All-American – AP (1996) Second-team All-American – AP (1995) 2x First-team All-Big East (1995, 1996) Big East Player of the Year (1996) Big East co-Freshman of the Year (1993) Big East All-Freshman Team (1993) As coach: 5× America East tournament champion (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011) 4× America East regular season champion (2006–2008, 2010) A-10 Tournament champion (2018) 2× America East Coach of the Year (2006, 2007)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medals Women's Basketball Jones Cup 1996 Taipei Team Competition Head Coach for  United States FIBA Under-19 World Championship 2011 Puerto Montt Team Competition Head Coach for  United States FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship 2010 Colorado Springs Team Competition Assistant Coach for  United States FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship 2006 Colorado Springs Team Competition

Early life

Rizzotti attended New Fairfield High School in New Fairfield, Connecticut. The basketball court at the New Fairfield town park was named after Rizzotti in honor of her achievements. She also attended ASIJ in Tokyo, Japan.

College career

From 1992 to 1996, she was one of the stars of the women's basketball team at the University of Connecticut. She was the starting point guard on the Huskies first national championship team in 1995, which recorded a perfect season, winning all 35 games. Rizzotti's picture was on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in recognition of the perfect season.^[4] Jen received the Honda-Broderick Cup for 1995–96, presented to the athlete "most deserving of recognition as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year."^[5] She was named the 1996 Associated Press Player of the Year.^[6] Rizzotti was a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.^[7] Rizzotti won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award during the 1995–96 basketball season.^[8] This award is given to the best women's basketball player in the country under 5'6' tall. During the 1995–96 season Jennifer set school records for assists with 212 and steals with 112. Jennifer graduated with a degree in biology.

Sports Illustrated did a series of thirteen photographs featuring players on teams that were chasing or achieved undefeated seasons. The cover photo of Jennifer Rizzoti racing upcourt is one of the photos in the collection.^[9]

USA Basketball – player

Rizzotti was invited to be a member of the Jones Cup team representing the US in 1996. She helped the team to a 9–0 record, and the gold medal in the event. Rizzotti averaged 2.6 points per games, while recording 26 assists, highest on the team.^[10]

Awards and honors

• 1993—Big East Co-Rookie of the Year
• 1996—Wade Trophy
• 1996—Associated Press Women's College Basketball Player of the Year
• 1996—Winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball^[11]
• 1996—The Honda-Broderick Cup winner for all sports.^[12][13]
• 2013—Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Professional career

She began her career as a professional basketball player playing for the New England Blizzard of the now defunct American Basketball League. During that time she was a two-time All-Star,^[6] Rizzotti was a member of the Houston Comets after being drafted in 1999,^[14] and played for the Comets in 1999 and 2000. The Comets won the League Championship both seasons.^[15] In 2001, she was traded to the Detroit Shock, but a month later, she was traded to the Cleveland Rockers.^[15] She played for the Cleveland Rockers from 2001 to 2003. Rizzotti was selected in the dispersal draft by the Detroit Shock in January 2004, but she retired from the WNBA prior to the 2004 season.^[15][16]

Coaching career

Rizzotti was recently the head basketball coach at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.^[3] She previously spent 17 seasons as the head women's basketball coach at the University of Hartford where she led the Hawks to four America East Conference championships and six trips to the NCAA tournament. She was named America East Coach of the Year in 2006, 2007, and 2010.^[17] In 2010 Rizzotti guided Hartford to an undefeated regular season in the America East Conference and was one of the 10 finalists up for the Kay Yow Coach of the Year.

Rizzotti served as the head coach of the USA Basketball U18 team, at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women in June 2010 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs CO.^[18][19] She previously served as an assistant coach of the U18 team, assisting head coach Doug Bruno in 2006, when the team went 4–0 to win the gold medal.^[20]

In 2011, Rizzotti was named USA Basketball National Coach of the Year. She was the head coach for the USA U18 team, which won the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. She continued as head coach of the U19 team and guided the team to another gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship games held in Chile.^[21]

Hall of Fame

Rizzotti was inducted in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2013. In her emotional acceptance speech she summarized, "I'm in the Hall of Fame because I played at the right school, at the right time with the right teammates, and I was taught to be a champion by the best coach who's ever coached the game."^[22] Her credentials included point guard on the 1995 National Championship team, and winner of the Wade Trophy and AP national player of the year award.^[23][24]

Personal life

Rizzotti grew up in New Fairfield, Connecticut and graduated from New Fairfield High School in 1992.^[25] She is the daughter of Tom and Carol Rizzotti.^[25]

Rizzotti was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall Of Fame in 2001.^[15][26]

Rizzotti married University of Hartford assistant Bill Sullivan in July 1999. The two welcomed their first child, Holden Thomas Sullivan, born (2005-04-16) 16 April 2005 (age 20). The couple's second child, Conor, was born on (2008-07-08) 8 July 2008 (age 17).

Rizzotti was honored by her alma mater, the University of Connecticut, as the winner of the Red O'Neill Award, an award given annually to a former student athlete who has "gone on to distinguish themselves in their chosen career."^[27]

Rizzotti was honored by The University of Hartford in 2010 as commencement speaker. Additionally she received an honorary doctorate degree from the university.^[28]

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

WNBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
1999	Houston	25	0	9.7	35.0	26.9	58.3	1.1	0.8	0.7	0.0	0.6	1.7
2000	Houston	32	2	13.7	38.2	30.8	66.7	1.1	1.4	0.5	0.1	0.8	1.9
2001	Cleveland	32	0	14.9	38.2	38.4	63.6	0.9	1.6	0.8	0.1	1.3	3.7
2002	Cleveland	26	25	26.7	40.0	38.4	80.0	2.7	3.3	0.9	0.1	1.7	6.8
2003	Cleveland	33	0	15.9	27.8	19.6	56.3	1.3	2.0	0.4	0.0	1.1	1.8
Career	5 years, 2 teams	148	27	16.0	36.7	33.0	69.3	1.4	1.8	0.6	0.1	1.1	3.1

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
1999	Houston	2	0	2.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
2000	Houston	1	0	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
2001	Cleveland	3	0	15.0	33.3	33.3	0.0	1.0	2.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0
2003	Cleveland	3	0	12.0	66.7	66.7	0.0	0.7	2.7	0.0	0.0	0.3	4.0
Career	4 years, 2 teams	9	0	9.9	42.9	42.9	0.0	0.7	1.8	0.0	0.0	0.1	2.0

College

Jennifer Rizzotti Statistics[29] at University of Connecticut
Year	G	FG	FGA	PCT	3FG	3FGA	PCT	FT	FTA	PCT	REB	AVG	A	TO	B	S	MIN	PTS	AVG
1992–93	29	116	288	0.403	53	142	0.373	73	118	0.619	125	4.3	104	116	1	60	1006	358	12.3
1993–94	33	110	239	0.46	54	126	0.429	52	78	0.667	111	3.4	150	90	4	80	992	326	9.9
1994–95	35	156	308	0.506	57	138	0.413	69	94	0.734	97	2.8	161	86	2	98	905	438	12.5
1995–96	38	148	335	0.442	43	158	0.272	79	112	0.705	126	3.3	222	115	2	112	1230	418	11.0
Totals	135	530	1170	0.453	207	564	0.367	273	402	0.679	459	3.4	637	407	9	350	4133	1540	11.1

Head coaching record

Source:^[30][31]

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Hartford Hawks (America East Conference) (1999–2016)
1999–2000	Hartford	14–14	9–9	5th
2000–01	Hartford	15–14	9–9	T–4th
2001–02	Hartford	16–15	9–7	T–4th	NCAA First Round
2002–03	Hartford	7–21	5–11	8th
2003–04	Hartford	18–12	9–9	T–4th
2004–05	Hartford	22–9	13–5	2nd	NCAA First Round
2005–06	Hartford	27–4	15–1	1st	NCAA Second Round
2006–07	Hartford	25–9	15–1	1st	WNIT Second Round
2007–08	Hartford	28–6	14–2	1st	NCAA Second Round
2008–09	Hartford	20–12	14–2	2nd	WNIT Second Round
2009–10	Hartford	27–5	16–0	1st	NCAA First Round
2010–11	Hartford	17–16	11–5	T–3rd	NCAA First Round
2011–12	Hartford	19–13	10–6	3rd	WNIT First Round
2012–13	Hartford	21–12	10–6	3rd	WNIT First Round
2013–14	Hartford	13–18	9–7	5th
2014–15	Hartford	16–17	8–8	5th
2015–16	Hartford	11–19	7–9	6th
Hartford:		316–216 (.594)	183–97 (.654)
George Washington Colonials (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2016–2021)
2016–17	George Washington	20–10	13–3	T-1st	WNIT First Round
2017–18	George Washington	19–13	10–6	T-5th	NCAA First Round
2018–19	George Washington	10–20	7–9	T-8th
George Washington:		49–43 (.533)	30–18 (.625)
Total:		365–259 (.585)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of Connecticut women's basketball players with 1000 points