Former WNBA player and Miami standout Octavia Blue has been hired as an assistant coach for Penn State women’s basketball, the university announced Wednesday. Blue joins Lady Lions all-time leading scorer Kelly Mazzante, who was named to head coach Tanisha Wright’s staff in early April.

Blue has an extensive coaching career, starting in 2008 as an assistant coach at St. Thomas University. She later joined St. John’s for the 2008-09 season before serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia Tech from 2009 to 2012.

The former Hurricane returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach before taking over as the associate head coach in 2020. She was named head coach at Kennesaw State in 2021, where she spent the last five seasons. She became the program’s fastest coach to reach 30 Division I wins and had an overall record of 61-89. 

Blue played her college ball at Miami from 1994-98, where she scored 1,724 points to become the eighth-highest scorer in program history, as well as shooting a record 45.3% from 3-point range her senior season. Her No. 10 jersey was retired by the Hurricanes in 2016. 

Blue was drafted No. 15 in the 1998 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, becoming the first Miami Hurricane draft pick in WNBA history. Blue spent three seasons in the league, joining the Houston Comets for the 2003 and 2004 seasons after her rookie season in California. She appeared in 59 WNBA games before continuing her professional career overseas, playing eight seasons for international clubs in Greece, Israel, France, Turkey, and Poland.