The women's basketball team began a new era April 6, when the UW announced that Tia Jackson would be picking up the reins as coach, following the departure of veteran coach June Daugherty.

"Tia is a perfect match for Washington," Todd Turner, director of Intercollegiate Athletics, said. "Her experiences at the highest levels as a coach and a player have prepared her well for this special oppertunity.

Turner said the move to hire Jackson is one that will restore community interst in the program.

"Tia's passion for the game, her tutelage under some of the greatest coaches in women's basketball and her commitment to the total development of student-athletes, make her the ideal person to lead our program."

Jackson spent the past two seasons as an assistant under Gail Goestenkors at Duke University, after assisting Tara VanDerveer at Stanford and Kathy Olivier at UCLA. Many experts claim Jackson is one of the best recruiters in the nation. Before she began her coaching career, the outgoing Jackson was a player under C. Vivian Stringer at the University of Iowa.

"I am extremely excited to be coming to the University of Washington and to be a part of the academic and athletic excellence for which this university is known," Jackson said. "This is an extraordinary opportunity, filled with a wonderful new challenge."

Jackson's first step to restoring the "buzz" that used to go hand-in-hand with the Dawgs was to bring back one of the program's best players. Loree Payne, who starred for the team when it shined its brightest — from 1999-2003 — was officially named an assistant coach April 13.

Along with bringing back some remnants of the Huskies' successful past, Jackson said that she hopes to add her own pages to the teams' history book.

"There is a great women's basketball tradition at Washington that the coaches before me have worked hard to build," she said. "I'm excited to present a style of basketball that will stimulate the Husky fan base and push our program to the top of the Pac-10 and toward our goal of a national championship."

Reach reporter Sam Cameron at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.