Zach Anderson

The coaches of SDSU women’s basketball team work hard, and that leads to all the team’s on-the-court success. Head coach Aaron Johnston, associate head coach Laurie Melum, assistant coach Katie Falco and graduate assistants Ben DeWaard and Melissa Miller play a huge role in the Jackrabbit women’s success.

While accumulating a 193-62 record during his coaching tenure (eight-plus seasons) at SDSU, Johnston spends a lot of time on game days preparing.

“I usually spend an hour or so in the morning going over game plan info with our staff. We usually have some type of shoot-around with the team the morning of the game, which lasts 90 minutes: 30 minutes of film and 60 minutes of on-court stuff,” Johnston said.

That is just the mornings of game day.

“My afternoons are spent at home watching some game film on future opponents. I get back to Frost about 75 minutes before tip off. My main focus on game days is to think through match-ups and team strategies for the game,” Johnston said.

Associate head coach Melum, who is in her ninth year as an assistant, helps work with the team’s offensive concepts and perimeter players. She focuses on making adjustments to help in those two areas.

Melum also works with recruits to make sure they are taken care of, and she is in charge of preparing scouting reports for opponents.

Falco, who is in her first year as an assistant coach, works with the post players and the defensive concepts and focuses on making adjustments to both.

Graduate assistants DeWaard and Miller make sure all of the details are ready for the game.

“They work with the student assistant coaches to make sure we are ready for the game and our opponents have what they need,” Johnston said.