June 10, 2004

FORT WORTH, Texas

TCU Women's Basketball Head Coach Jeff Mittie announced Thursday the hiring of Yolanda Wells-Broughton as an assistant coach. She replaces Sean McShane, who left the program in May to pursue a business opportunity outside of basketball. The Lady Frog basketball staff is now complete for the upcoming season with the additions of Wells-Broughton and Tricia Porter as director of basketball operations. Porter was named to her post yesterday.

"Through the interview process, Yolanda demonstrated that she could be a top-notch recruiter at the NCAA Division I level," said Mittie. "She has been a huge part of Trinity Valley's national championship success with Coach Michael Landers. Yolanda has the experience necessary to help our staff excel at a higher level."

A native of Houston, Wells-Broughton helped Landers and the Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals win their fifth National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship last season. The Athens, Texas-based team posted a perfect 36-0 record and went 18-0 in conference play. In addition to leading the nation in scoring with 101.7 points per game, Wells-Broughton helped cultivate five first-team all-conference players, two of which were also tabbed first-team all-Americans.

The Lady Cardinals put up some impressive numbers when Wells-Broughton joined the staff in July 2000. The team went 126-8 (.940) during that span and saw 19 of its players sign National Letters of Intent with NCAA Division I institutions. Trinity Valley also currently owns a 50-game conference winning streak and a 78-game regular season winning streak.

Wells-Broughton was more than an assistant coach during her tenure at Trinity Valley. She served as a kinesiology instructor and a dormitory director as well.

Before joining the Trinity Valley staff, Wells-Broughton was the head coach for Paul Quinn College in Dallas during the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons. She was responsible for all phases of coaching for the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association (NAIA) school, from budgeting and scheduling to fund raising and community outreach. She was also an academic coordinator during her two years with the college.

Wells-Broughton earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Grambling State (Grambling, La.) in 1995 and was awarded a Master of Science in sports administration from GSU in 1997. After playing for the Lady Tigers from 1993-95, she became a graduate assistant coach with the program while earning her master's degree. Wells-Broughton was a graduate assistant coach for the women's golf team during that time as well.

As a player at Howard Junior College (Big Spring, Texas) from 1990-92, Wells-Broughton was named to the Kodak All-America First Team. After receiving her Associate of Arts degree from the school, she became an all-conference player for Grambling State. Wells-Broughton helped GSU earn its first NCAA Tournament bid in 1994 when the field was expanded from 48 to 64 teams. Despite being large underdogs at No. 2-seeded Vanderbilt in the East Region, the Lady Tigers only fell by a 95-85 count.

Wells-Broughton and her husband Vernon Broughton were married in February 2001. The couple has a son, Vernon Jr., who will turn three in July, and a 13-month-old daughter, Asia. Her husband played in the Arena Football League for five seasons as an offensive and defensive lineman with the now defunct Iowa Barnstormers and the Chicago Rush. While with the Barnstormers, Broughton was a teammate of current National Football League (NFL) quarterback and Super Bowl XXXIV and 1999 league MVP Kurt Warner.

"I'm really excited about joining the Lady Frogs," said Wells-Broughton. "I'm looking forward to working with a highly successful coach like Coach Mittie and continuing the tradition of TCU's program."

This is not the first time Trinity Valley and TCU have crossed paths, as former Lady Frog Diamond Jackson played for the Lady Cards for two seasons before starring at TCU from 1998-2000. TCU also signed 2003-04 Lady Card Vanessa Clementino for the upcoming season.