Photo by: Ryan Lumpkin

After spending the past four years as an analyst for ESPN and The Mountain Network, Colorado basketball legend Abby Waner joined the Pioneer staff as an assistant coach under new women’s basketball head coach Kerry Cremeans on April 23.

Fortunately for Waner, with the opportunity to join the Pioneer squad, she was able to stay in her hometown as well as stay a Pioneer fan, as her father is a DU alumni.

“Why not [come to Denver]?” said Waner. “Being from here was so important to me that this is my hometown. I’m so proud of Denver and Colorado anyway, so when the opportunity came up that there was a coaching position and Kerry called me, you can’t help but want to be a part of what she’s doing in life. She’s just that kind of person. I know it sounds really clichCB), but this is by far the most ideal situation I could have hoped for.”

Waner played for Thunder Ridge High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., and was named the National High School Coaches Association’s National Player of the Year in 2005, as well as being named the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American that same year.

She led the Grizzlies to three Colorado State titles and was named Miss Colorado Basketball in 2004 and 2005 and  the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year in 2006.

In past years, Waner was involved in Colorado basketball, coaching the Colorado Hoopsters and coordinating the Abby Waner Girls Basketball Camp and Nike Skills Academy in Colorado before joining the Pioneer staff.

After graduating from the Grizzlies, Waner played basketball at Duke University and was a two-time preseason National Player of the Year candidate in 2008 and 2009, an honorable mention All-American in 2008 and a three-time All-ACC selection from 2006-2009.

Waner left Duke as the school’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made and a member of the 2006 Duke team that reached the Final Four.

“I could talk for days, but Duke is a really special place, and I’m happy that I am at Denver because I feel like Denver is very comparable – very similar ideals and standards,” said Waner. “At Duke, I think the biggest thing was the combination of academics, and then you have this epitome of the basketball world. The people that you meet, the academics, the professors, the teammates, the facilities – it’s very much similar to here, that standard of excellence that you can find everywhere here. I learned what it’s like to be a part of Duke basketball, I learned what it’s like to struggle, what it’s like to be challenged and to feel that on the back end, to see that success.”

Waner graduated from Duke with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She was a three-time All-ACC Academic Team selection in 2007-2009 and was named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District III Team in 2007 and 2008.

Waner was later a member of the USA basketball team, earning three gold medals with the team. She won the first gold in 2004 at the Junior World Championships, the second in 2005 in the U-19 World Championships and the third in 2007 in the U-21 World Championships. Following that, she was selected 21st overall by the New York Liberty in the 2009 WNBA Draft before being waived after the preseason.

“With USA basketball, you’re given an opportunity to travel the world,” said Waner. “I definitely learned what it means to be a part of USA basketball and to be American. We would go to these parts of the world where you wear a USA jersey and fans in Puerto Rico or fans in Tunisia, Africa, have no idea who I am, but they see the USA, and that’s a huge deal. Just playing with players who were the best in the world, there are no other places I’ve gone where I’ve had that kind of competition and experience.”

Her coaching experience is not the only valuable experience Waner brings to the staff, as she has a completely different insight into the game after her time in sports broadcasting.

“I watched hundreds of practices and games and met with hundreds of coaches, assistant coaches and players [as a sports broadcaster],” said Waner. “It’s the same sort of concept, knowing that there’s always room to improve. I think it’s really important, as a player, to understand that you have this opportunity and a platform to be a spokesperson, a representative of a university or athletic program, so I took that into the broadcasting. Being able to speak, to write and to read are all really important, and they definitely carry over into the coaching world.”

While working for ESPN, Waner worked with the Southeastern Conference network, the same conference Cremeans coached in.

“With all her scouting and work as an assistant coach at Auburn, she watched a ton of my games,” said Waner. “So it’s just really funny that that’s how, in a way, she kind of got to know me a little bit. It’s really funny how all those paths can cross and help each other at some point.”

In addition to her sports broadcasting experience, Waner said the coaches she had in the past heavily influenced her as a coach herself. Between the coaches she had at Duke and with Team USA, Waner said she had some of the best coaches in the world to learn from.

“Taking bits and pieces from each of those [coaches], that’s really what it’s all about anyways, just learning as much as you can from people and morphing them into yourself,” said Waner. “Understanding what you need as a player from a coach, I think that there’s a huge correlation. Good players don’t always make great coaches, but at least they understand the players’ perspective, so being able to relate to these girls as not only a coach, but as somebody they can talk to, somebody that they know understands what they’re going through, I think that’s really important, too.”

Waner also credits her USA basketball experience for shaping her as a coach, in addition to shaping her as a person and teaching her the meaning of being an American.

“The most important thing was probably learning to be a part of something bigger than yourself, and I feel like that’s really what coaching is about, too,” said Waner. “It really goes hand in hand with learning to be a part of a team and to be part of a country.”

Back home in Denver, Waner has goals as a coach which she is looking forward to achieving.

“We’re really lucky, because Erik Johnson and his staff left this place in pristine condition. What I can improve on? Who knows, but there are always things you can improve upon,” said Waner. “My Colorado grassroots are going to be important in trying to help Kerry and the other coaches create those networks. We want to get more fans, that’s really important, and take what Erik did and instill our culture and see if we can get it up to the level where every single year, we are competing in the NCAA tournament.”

Not only is the new staff lucky for the state of the program, but head coach Kerry Cremeans said the team is lucky to have Waner.

“Abby is a grand slam for us,” said Cremeans. “She has tons of experience around the sport, but most importantly, she is the face of Colorado’s women’s basketball. She is well connected and that makes it easy for her to sell DU basketball.”