GUNNISON, Colo.  Head women's basketball coach Adam Jacobson has announced the hiring of Tenesha Daniels as the Mountaineer program's assistant coach.

Daniels comes to the Western Slope following a year as the assistant at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. Prior to her season with the Grizzlies, she spent time on the staffs at Seward County (Kan.) CC, Ranger (Texas) College, Independence (Kan.) CC after starting her coaching career at Eastern Arizona College.

"Tanesha Daniels is a fantastic add to this staff, women's basketball program, and University," said Jacobson. "She has great playing experience in her own right playing at great programs such as Salt Lake CC & (NCAA) Division I Grand Canyon University. On top of that, Tanesha also played professional basketball in Great Britain.

"Coach Daniels will immediately impact our recruiting and bring that up tenfold, her connections in the Kansas Jayhawk CC Conference and beyond is something that will benefit us almost immediately.  And she is a great development coach and will be working with our players to improve all aspects of their games right away. I couldn't be more excited to add Tenesha to our staff!"

Last season at Butler, Daniels helped the Grizzlies to a 23-8 overall record and a 17-7 mark in KJCCC action. Butler advanced to the NJCAA Region 6 semifinals during a season in which four Grizzlies earned All-KJCCC honors, including the Jayhawk Freshman of the Year.

Daniels' collegiate playing career began at Salt Lake (Utah) CC where the team posted back-to-back 26+ win seasons on the way to a pair of SWAC championships. After graduating from SLCC with an Associate of Science degree in criminal justice, she moved on to Grand Canyon and a squad that had at least 15 wins in each of her two seasons with the Antelopes.

Upon graduating from GCU in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in justice studies, Daniels moved to Newcastle, England, where she played for Newcastle University in the BUCA league, averaging 20 points, 12.5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals per game.

From Brigham City, Utah, Daniels earned all-state recognition at Fremont High School with first-team 5A honors her senior year, second-team honors her junior season, and honorable mention in her sophomore year. Lettering in each of those years, Daniels and Fremont played their way into the state tournament all three seasons.

Daniels joins a Mountaineer program that won 21 games last season, the second highest win total in program history. Western hosted and won a first-round Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament game, closing out its season on the road in the semifinals with a loss to the eventual RMAC tournament champion.