PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Open assistant coaching jobs don’t exactly grow on trees in college basketball — but assistant coaching jobs at your alma mater? Those are few and far between.
“My sisters were sending me the post like, ‘Are you going to text Scott? Apply, apply!’” said Aleah Goodman.
Goodman, a La Salle alum and former All-Pac-12 selection, didn’t need any convincing. Turns out Oregon State University’s head coach Scott Rueck didn’t need much either.
“It was super exciting,” said the former All-Pac-12 selection when Rueck asked her to join his staff. “I called my mom and dad. I had them on FaceTime. My mom was crying. She was so happy. You can’t really pass up coaching at your old school. This is home for me. I grew up born and raised in Oregon. Not a situation that I could pass up, for sure.”
Goodman graduated from Oregon State just two years ago.
To say she didn’t see her path unfolding like this is an understatement.
“Thinking I was going to be back so soon wasn’t really in the plan, but I also didn’t think there was going to be an opportunity to come back this soon, so when that came about, I just kind of jumped on it. I’ve loved it so far,” said Goodman.
Goodman still holds OSU’s women’s basketball program’s three-point field goal percentage record at 43.7% and ended her college career averaging 16.2 points per game along with 4.9 assists.
She was then drafted 30th by the Connecticut Sun in the 2021 WNBA Draft.
She ultimately decided after getting cut by the Sun, that she wanted to start her career on the coaching side earlier than most and was Duke’s Director of Recruiting and Player Development the past two seasons.
“I was just at the peak of my career. My senior year, I felt like I was playing my best basketball, so it was one of those things where I had a lot of conversations with my parents just weighing options,” said Goodman. “I just felt like it was best for me to take the opportunity at Duke and get into coaching at a young age and start early. I really haven’t looked back since.”
Ironically, going back for Goodman is also moving forward — and she couldn’t be more thrilled about that.
“It’s awesome. Oregon State — the community, the university — is really, really special,” said Goodman. “Having that privilege to rep Oregon State on the court and in the community and now coming back, it’s super, super special because of all the support that we have as a program and the university as a whole.”
