Coquese Makebra Washington (born January 17, 1971) is a basketball coach and former player, who is currently an assistant coach for the SMU Mustangs women's basketball team. Earlier in her career, she was the head women's basketball coach for the Penn State Lady Lions from 2007 to 2019, and for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from 2022 to 2026. Washington holds a Juris Doctor degree and was the first president of the WNBA Players Association, holding that position from 1999 to 2001. She played high school basketball at Flint Central High School and collegiate basketball at the University of Notre Dame.

High school career Washington attended high school at Flint Central High School in Flint, Michigan. She was the starting point guard for all four years of her high school basketball career, the first player at Central to earn a starting position in all four years. Washington earned all-state honors in back to back years. In her senior year she scored 373 points to set a school scoring record for a single season, And went on to score a total of 1,123 points in her career. She led the team to their first ever Saginaw Valley Conference and district championships. In addition to sports excellence, she also had musical talents, playing seven different musical instruments while at Central.

College career Washington played for Notre Dame's Fighting Irish women's basketball team from 1989 to 1993. Afterwards, she attended Notre Dame Law School from 1994 to 1997, earning her J.D.

Professional career ABL After completing her athletic eligibility with the Irish in 1993, she began a professional career by joining the American Basketball League 1996-98 (ABL). She began her pro career in 1997–98 as the starting point guard with the ABL's Portland Power.

WNBA 1998–99 – New York Liberty – Washington averaged 4.1 minutes, 0.6 points, and 0.8 rebounds per game. 1999 – During the 2000 expansion draft on December 15, 1999, Washington was selected by the Portland Fire. However, Washington would never play for the Fire. 2000 – Houston Comets: Washington received playing time in 25 games, and throughout the season, she averaged 1.7 points and an assist per game. 2001 – Houston Comets: Washington started all 32 games, as a point guard. Throughout the season, she averaged 5.3 points, 3.8 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.16 steals per game. On August 3, 2001, playing against Orlando and in her best game of the season, she posted ten points, nine rebounds, and six assists. 2003 – Indiana Fever: Washington started 10 games, playing 17.5 minutes per game. Throughout the season, she averaged 3.2 points, 2.4 assists, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.7 steals per game.

Coaching career Notre Dame Washington began her coaching career in 1999, when she returned to her alma mater, University of Notre Dame, and worked as an assistant coach under Head Coach Muffet McGraw. She was part of the coaching staff for the team that won the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship in 2001, defeating Purdue.

In August 2005, Washington was promoted to an Associate head coach, which includes the responsibility of coordinating Notre Dame's recruiting efforts on promising young players.

Penn State On April 23, 2007, she was named the fifth coach in Penn State women's basketball history, following Rene Portland's resignation.

Washington increased her number of Big Ten wins in each of her first six years, starting with 4 conference wins in 2007–2008 and growing to 14 and her second consecutive Big Ten regular season title in the 2012–2013 campaign. Washington's first post season appearance at Penn State was a first round loss in the 2010 WNIT Tournament. Since 2011, Washington has led her teams to three consecutive NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship appearances where her teams have advanced past the first round in every appearance. Her most successful season was the 2011–2012 season when Washington's Lady Lions advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to perennial powerhouse UConn.

In 2013, Coquese Washington was named to the 18-member "Presidential Search and Screen Committee" at Penn State to help determine the university's next President.

On March 8, 2019, Penn State and Washington parted ways after 12 seasons.

Oklahoma On April 18, 2019, Washington was announced as the new associate head coach of the Oklahoma women's basketball program.

Notre Dame – Part II For the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 seasons, Washington returned to Notre Dame in the role of associate head coach.

Rutgers On May 23, 2022, Washington was announced as the new head coach of the Rutgers women's basketball program. On March 2, 2026, Washington was fired after four seasons.

SMU In April, 2026, it was announced that Washington was named an assistant coach at SMU.

Career statistics

WNBA Regular season

| align="left" | 1998 | align="left" | New York |28||0||8.1||29.4||23.8||69.2||0.9||1.6||0.6||0.0||1.3||1.9 |- | align="left" | 1999 | align="left" | New York |19||0||4.1||27.8||0.0||100.0||0.4||0.8||0.5||0.0||0.7||0.6 |- | align="left" | 2000 | align="left" | Houston |25||0||9.4||36.4||20.0||80.0||0.8||1.0||0.6||0.0||0.8||1.7 |- | align="left" | 2001 | align="left" | Houston |32||32||31.7||35.6||35.8||63.6||3.7||3.8||2.2||0.3||1.8||5.3 |- | align="left" rowspan=2 | 2002 | align="left" | Houston |21||15||16.6||34.0||38.1||100.0||2.0||1.5||0.6||0.0||1.0||2.1 |- | align="left" | Indiana |11||8||29.5||37.1||45.2||70.0||3.0||4.4||2.1||0.2||2.2||7.3 |- | align="left" | 2003 | align="left" | Indiana |20||10||17.4||28.4||29.2||84.6||1.5||2.4||0.7||0.1||1.5||3.2 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | 6 years, 3 teams |156||65||16.5||33.7||32.9||73.3||1.8||2.1||1.0||0.1||1.3||3.0

Playoffs

| align="left" | 2000 | align="left" | Houston |6||0||15.3||33.3||42.9||83.3||1.8||1.0||0.8||0.2||1.3||2.3 |- | align="left" | 2001 | align="left" | Houston |2||2||37.0||17.6||10.0||0.0||4.5||2.5||1.0||0.0||1.0||3.5 |- | align="left" | 2002 | align="left" | Houston |3||3||36.7||33.3||37.5||100.0||2.0||4.7||1.0||0.0||2.0||8.3 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | 3 years, 1 team |11||5||25.1||28.3||30.3||85.7||2.4||2.3||0.9||0.1||1.5||4.2

College

| style="text-align:left;" | 1989–90 | style="text-align:left;" | Notre Dame |29||-||-||41.5||44.0||54.8||2.1||3.9||2.3||0.1||-||6.8 |- | style="text-align:left;" | 1990–91 | style="text-align:left;" | Notre Dame |32||-||-||48.0||39.3||75.0||3.8||5.6||2.6||0.2||-||9.2 |- | style="text-align:left;" | 1991–92 | style="text-align:left;" | Notre Dame |25||-||-||37.4||28.0||74.0||3.8||5.6||3.2||0.0||-||7.4 |- | style="text-align:left;" | 1992–93 | style="text-align:left;" | Notre Dame |27||-||-||38.9||35.1||82.1||3.9||4.5||3.0||0.0||-||10.4 |- | style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Career |113||-||-||41.7||35.6||72.5||3.4||4.9||2.7||0.1||-||8.5 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:center;" colspan="14"|Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.

Awards and honors

2007–08 WBCA "Rising Star" Award Winner 2009 Greater Flint Hall of Fame Inductee 2010–11 Black Coaches & Administrators Female Coach of the Year 2011–12 Big Ten Coach of the Year 2011–12 WBCA Region 6 Coach of the Year 2011–12 WBCA National Coach of the Year Finalist 2012–13 Big Ten Coach of the Year 2012–13 WBCA Region 6 Coach of the Year 2012–13 WBCA National Coach of the Year Finalist 2012–13 Black Coaches & Administrators Female Coach of the Year 2013–14 Big Ten Coach of the Year

Head coaching record

Personal Washington lives in Somerset, New Jersey with her husband, Raynell Brown, and their son, Quenton Kassius Winston Brown (b. April 24, 2005), and daughter, Rhaiyna Kamille Brown (b. July 23, 2009). She has a mother, Velma Washington, and her father James Washington. (d. 2013) She has two sisters, Stephanie and India, and two brothers, Ameer and Kenyatta (d. 2016). She is close friends with Notre Dame coach Carol Owens and head coach Niele Ivey.

References

External links Notre Dame coaching profile WNBA Player Profile