May 20, 2008

AUBURN - Auburn women's basketball coach Nell Fortner announced the hiring of Ayesha Whitfield as an assistant coach on Tuesday. Whitfield, who comes to Auburn after serving in a similar capacity last season at Central Michigan, replaces Daedra Charles-Furlow, who left Auburn to become an assistant coach at Tennessee, her alma mater.

"I am very excited to have Ayesha join our program," Fortner said. "She is a young up-and-comer in women's collegiate basketball and we are happy to have her come to Auburn. She is a proven recruiter as was evident by her terrific class at Central Michigan last year. She has the desire and wants to be successful in this profession."

Whitfield comes to Auburn after spending last season in a similar capacity at Central Michigan. At CMU, Whitfield served as recruiting coordinator and oversaw the guards. Her 2008 recruiting class was rated first in the Mid-American Conference by All-Star Girls Report and by the Detroit News and Detroit Free-Press.

Prior to her arrival at Central Michigan, Whitfield spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Oakland University, where she helped the Golden Grizzlies to a Mid-Continent Conference championship in 2006 and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Detroit native coached nine all-conference players while at Oakland, as well as four all-tournament players, two newcomers of the year, one conference tournament MVP and two professional players. Whitfield also helped Oakland to a WNIT automatic bid in 2006-07 thanks to a Mid-Continent regular-season title and a flawless road record. The Grizzles were the first Mid-Con team since 2002-03 to go undefeated on the road in conference play.

Before joining the collegiate coaching ranks, Whitfield was head varsity girls' basketball coach at Henry Ford High School in Detroit for one season (2003) after serving as an assistant for Cass Technical High School for a season (2002).

Whitfield's first coaching job came in 1999 as she was head junior varsity girls' basketball coach at Arlington High School in St. Paul, Minn.

As a player, Whitfield lettered her freshman season at the University of Minnesota. Her career was cut short by injuries but she remained with the program as a student assistant until 1999. Whitfield graduated from Minnesota in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering.