Georgetown ladies’s basketball coach Tasha Butts died Monday after a two-year battle with breast cancer, the varsity’s athletic director stated.
The 41-year-old coach used to be identified with complicated level breast cancer in 2021. She stepped clear of training Georgetown closing month. Her prognosis impressed the Tasha Tough marketing campaign which has introduced consciousness and raised cash to convey high quality care to ladies who can’t manage to pay for it during the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
“I am heartbroken for Tasha’s family, friends, players, teammates and colleagues,” stated Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed. “When I met Tasha, I knew she was a winner on the court, and an incredible person whose drive, passion and determination was second to none. She exhibited these qualities both as a leader and in her fight against breast cancer. This is a difficult time for the entire Georgetown community, and we will come together to honor her memory.”
She got here to Georgetown from Georgia Tech this previous April after a protracted training {and professional} WNBA occupation. She joined the Georgia Tech ladies’s basketball group of workers as an assistant coach in April 2019, and used to be promoted to affiliate head coach two years later. While at Georgia Tech in 2021, Butts introduced she have been identified with complicated level metastatic breast cancer.
“Tasha’s passing is a devastating loss. She was extraordinary,” Georgetown president John J. DeGioia said. “Tasha was a person of character, determination, vision, and kindness. She will be deeply missed by our community and by so many people around the country who have been inspired by her life.”
When Butts stepped away last month, Georgetown named assistant Darnell Haney as the interim head coach. He said last week that he had been in constant contact with Butts while she was undergoing treatment.
“We kept her up to date with what’s going on with the program. Shoot her a text on how practice went, how things are going in the conference,” he said. “Do stuff to make her smile and keep her mind off what was she was going through. We’d send her film from practice.”
Teams across the country would post videos on social media every Tuesday during October to try and lift Butts’ spirits and remind her she wasn’t alone in the fight against cancer.
Before coaching at Georgia Tech, Butts was an assistant first at Duquesne, UCLA and LSU. She spent eight seasons with the Tigers.
Butts starred at Tennessee from 2000-04, playing for Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt. The Lady Vols went 124-17 with her playing and advanced to the NCAA championship game in 2003 and 04. She was part of four SEC regular-season championship teams at the school.
She had a brief career in the WNBA after getting chosen 20th by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2004 draft. She played for Minnesota, Charlotte and Houston.
She is survived by her parents Spencer, Sr. and Evelyn, her brother Spencer, Jr. and her nephew Marquis.
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AP ladies’s university basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
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