Reid leaves Laker women’s basketball for assistant’s position at Albany
Cox hires former Clayton State player Coleman as interim assistant coach

MORROW, Ga. – September 13, 2007 – Clayton State women’s head basketball coach Dennis Cox announced on Thursday the resignation of Laker assistant coach Shannon Reid. An assistant the last two seasons at Clayton State, Reid is leaving the Laker program for an assistant position at NCAA Division I Albany of the American East Conference.

Due to the late change, Cox has also announced the hiring of former Laker player Kaleena Coleman as Clayton State’s interim assistant coach for the 2007-08 season.

"We will miss Coach Reid immensely," said Cox, who is 79-19 entering his fourth season at Clayton State. "We owe much of our recent success to her efforts and commitment. She was great with our recruits and very popular with the team and the entire athletic family. We wish her the best as she advances to this step in her career."

In two seasons, Reid has helped the Lakers to two straight trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament, advancing to the second round in the South Atlantic Regional in the 2005-06 season and the "Elite Eight" and "Final Four" this past season. During her two seasons on the Laker bench, Clayton State posted records of 25-6 and 29-6 and were ranked fourth in the final Division II Top 25 poll this past season.

Before joining the staff at Clayton State, Reid coached one year at another Peach Belt Conference school - USC-Aiken. She helped lead the Lady Pacers to a 19-13 record in 2004-05, and their second trip to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Prior to coaching at USC-Aiken, Reid was an assistant coach in 2003 at St. Andrews, an NCAA Division II school in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC).

She joins the staff at Albany, serving under head coach Trina Patterson.

Coleman, who lettered for the Lakers from 2003-05, served as a student assistant coach during the 2005-06 season and a part-time assistant last season, had accepted an assistant’s position over the summer at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Ga., serving under another former Laker, Carlie Anderson.

However, Cox could not pass up the opportunity to bring Coleman back to the Clayton State fold.

"I’m excited that Kaleena will have the opportunity to serve us in a full-time capacity this year," Cox said. "It all happened so fast, but I take comfort in knowing that we have what I consider to be the heart and soul of our program back with us.

"She has been a huge part of our success here in the past three years, both as a player and a coach."