Sports

Ex-Wheeler Star Hired at Kentucky

Danielle Santos has been named a basketball assistant coach for the SEC regular season champions.

Former basketball star Danielle Santos was named an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky Tuesday. 

Santos scored more than 1,100 points, pulled down more than 500 rebounds and had nearly 500 steals during her high school career for Wheeler, which reached the state quarterfinals during her junior season in 2001.

She played at the University of Florida when current Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell was an assistant, and earned her degree in exercise and sports sciences in 2006.

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For the last two seasons, Santos has been an assistant coach at Illinois State. Prior to that, she served in a similar capacity at Hofstra University, where her former Wheeler coach, Krista Kilburn-Steveskey, is the head coach. 

Kentucky is one of the rising powerhouses in women's college basketball. The Wildcats won the SEC regular season in 2011-12 and compiled a record of 28-7, falling one game short of the Final Four. 

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"I am extremely proud and honored to be a part of this Wildcat family and the Big Blue Nation," Santos said. "The SEC is a special place to me and returning to the league to reunite with Coach Mitchell is an incredible opportunity and I can't wait to get started."


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