Newly appointed women’s basketball coach Daynia La-Force Mann announced the final addition to her coaching staff July 5.

Sherri Brown joins the Huskies from West Virginia University, where she worked in the Athletic Department’s Student Affairs and Academic Counseling Office as a graduate assistant. She graduated from St. John’s University in 2006 with a master’s degree in Education Leadership.

“I’m really excited,” Brown said. “This is my first coaching job, and as a former player, I’m excited to be on the other side.”

“The atmosphere [at Northeastern] is great; my biggest excitement is that it’s student oriented,” Brown said. “I’m hoping to grow with the university and department and contribute whatever I can.”

Brown is hoping Mann’s coaching staff can turn around a Husky team that hasn’t had a winning record since the 1999-00 season.

“We are going to go out there and recruit Division I basketball players,” Brown said. “I think Mann is focused on getting girls in here that are willing to work hard and I think our staff is going to be committed to changing the program.”

Previously, Brown was a four-year basketball player at St. John’s University. Her final two seasons were played while Mann was an assistant coach at the university. In her senior season, Brown was awarded the Big East Conference Sportsmanship Award after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001 and continuing to play for the Red Storm.

“With my diagnosis, my determination to keep playing is where my work ethic comes from,” Brown said. “I stuck with my teammates and I continued to work hard for myself, team and university.”

“Watching her battle through that and seeing her tremendous courage and work ethic proved to me she battles through everything,” Mann said. “She is a strong person, which are the attributes I want on my staff.”

Brown graduated from St. John’s in 2004 with a sports management degree and a minor in business administration.

She joins Monge Codio Jr. and Vicki Wancel as first-year assistant coaches under Mann.