Courtney Locke, a former standout collegiate athlete at Rutgers,will begin her first season at UC Santa Barbara as one of theinaugural coaches on Carlene Mitchell's staff.
Locke comes to UCSB after spending three seasons as an assistantcoach at the University of Central Florida. She was the recruitingcoordinator for her final two seasons at UCF and will inherit thatrole with the Gauchos.
Prior to joining UCF, Locke spent two seasons as an assistantcoach at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
In her three seasons on the sidelines with the Knights, the teamwon two Conference USA titles and Locke was instrumental in thedevelopment of the program's guards.
While at UTSA, Locke helped guide the Roadrunners to their mostsuccessful season in school history in 2007-08. UTSA posted a 23-10record, claimed its first Southland Conference TournamentChampionship and made the first NCAA Tournament appearance in the27-year history of the program.
Locke served as the Roadrunners' recruiting coordinator and campdirector. She also was in charge of opponent scouting and thedevelopment of the team's perimeter players. Under her direction,junior guard Monica Gibbs was an All-Southland ConferenceFirst-Team selection in 2008.
In her playing days, Locke was a four-year letterwinner atRutgers from 2002-06 and was recruited to Rutgers by CoachMitchell. While a player with the Scarlet Knights, Locke had theopportunity to learn from one of the nation's best coaches, C.Vivian Stringer.
Locke played in 126 games with 26 starts at the guard positionat Rutgers. As a senior, Locke started five games and knocked down39.4 percent of her three-pointers as Rutgers went 27-5 overall and16-0 in Big East play.
While Locke was at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights advanced to fourNCAA Tournaments, making the Elite Eight in 2005 and the SweetSixteen in 2006. Rutgers twice won the Big East regular-seasontitle with Locke on the squad, and the team's record during hercollegiate career was a combined 97-32 (.752), including a 53-11(.828) mark in league play.
Locke graduated in May 2006 with a bachelor's degree in exercisescience and sports studies.
