Report: Edniesha Curry Joins Chauncey Billups' Staff With Blazers
Edniesha Curry is coming back to Oregon.
Curry, an assistant coach at the University of Maine and former star for the Oregon Ducks, has been added to Chauncey Billups' staff with the Trail Blazers, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic.
Curry becomes the third assistant coach to follow Billups to Portland, succeeding former Washington Wizards and Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks and former LA Clippers assistant Roy Rogers.
When she signed on as an assistant with Maine in 2018, Curry became the only woman to serve on the coaching staff of a men's Division 1 basketball team. The 42-year-old was a player development coach for the Maine women from 2015 to 2017, then participated in the NBA Assistant Coaches' Program before returning to Orono.
Curry finished her college career with Oregon after transferring from Cal-State Northridge, garnering Honorable Mention all-conference honors as a senior in 2001-02. She was then selected by the Charlotte Sting in the third round of the 2002 WNBA Draft, beginning a decade-long professional career that included four seasons in the WNBA and more overseas.
As a player, Curry regularly returned to Oregon during the offseason to learn the coaching ropes from Portland AAU coach Michael Abraham.
"I never paid attention to if I was coaching boys or girls, women or men," Curry told Rob Moseley of GoDucks.com in 2018. "I just always felt like, if they feel you know your craft and they can trust you, that's all that matters. That was my focus: becoming the best coach, the best leader."