Helen Williams completed her fourth season as the head coach at
Merrimack in 2010 having helped the Warriors to the most wins in
her tenure (12) and knock off a national No. 1-ranked team
(Franklin Pierce) for the first time in program history. The
Warriors entered the Northeast-10 tournament in 2010 as the 12-seed
and became just the third team in the modern tournament era to
upset a five-seed (Saint Rose) in the play-in round.
In 2008-09, Williams returned the Warriors to the playoffs in,
posting an 8-14 conference record to go with a 9-19 overall record.
Merrimack picked up big conference wins over rivals Bentley, Lowell
and AIC and posted a road win at Saint Rose late in the season to
push them into the playoffs. Amanda Shannon was second in the
conference in scoring, earning second-team All-Conference honors.
Three of Williams’ recruits, Hannah DeGraffinreed, Gennifer
Roy, and Tiffany Colon figured prominently in the Warriors’
success.
In 2007-08, she guided the Warriors to a 9-19 record in her second
season. Shannon was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Third Team
while Kara Borelli earned All-Academic Honors. The Warriors
finished with a 7-21 record in her first season as head coach.
An aspiring broadcaster, Williams served as a color analyst for
the 2009 and 2010 Mid Eastern Athletic Association (MEAC)
men’s and women’s basketball championships.
Williams was hired on May 1, 2006. She came to Merrimack College
with 17 years of Division I women’s basketball coaching
experience and 19 years of coaching in women’s basketball.
She joined the Warrior athletics family after having served the
last four seasons as the first assistant and recruiting coordinator
at Princeton.
While with the Tigers, Williams was responsible for recruiting,
on-floor coaching, scouting, and game preparation. She helped
Princeton to a 21-7 overall record and a 12-2 Ivy League record in
2006-07, both school bests for the program. During her time in New
Jersey, she coached four Ivy League All-Rookies, including the 2005
Rookie of the Year, and two All-Ivy League selections.
Prior to her post at Princeton, Williams spent time as an
assistant coach on staff at the United States Naval Academy
(1997-2002), Western Michigan (1993-97), South Florida (1991-93),
Wake Forest (1989-91), and Division II Lenoir-Rhyne (1987-89). In
1998, her Navy team was crowned Patriot League Champions. In
addition, Williams served as head coach of the 2002 All-Navy team,
where she was responsible for developing and implementing a
four-week plan to prepare for and compete in the Armed Forces
Tournament.
Williams graduated from Wake Forest University in 1987 with a
bachelor’s degree in health science. She was a four-year
member of the Demon Deacon women’s basketball team. She
received her Master’s degree in counselor education from
Lenoir-Rhyne in 1989.
Williams is a member of several organizations, including the Black
Coaches Association and the Women’s Basketball Coaches
Association. She is also a member of the American Association of
University Women and the Business and Professional Women’s
Foundation. She has served as a staff member and director at
several camps and clinics, and she has worked on numerous
presentations and publications within the women’s basketball
coaching community.
Entering her first year with the Merrimack women’s
basketball program, Jennifer Chuks comes to North Andover having
been a Membership and Marketing Graduate Assistant at the
University of New Haven from 2007 to 2009. In the spring of 2009,
she earned a Master’s in Business Administration at New Haven
with a concentration in Management of Sport Industries.
Prior to New Haven, Chuks had been an intern with the Programming
Department at ESPN where she was responsible for organizing college
basketball statistics and implementing programs to identify top
high school athletes.
In her playing days, Chuks earned a full athletic scholarship to
play basketball at the University of Hartford. In 2006, she earned
her undergraduate degree from the University in psychology. While
in Hartford, she was an administrative assistant in the Hawks
Athletic Department from 2005 to 2006.
In addition to being a member of the UNH Sport Management Club,
the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and Manut Bol’s
Athletic Reading Club, Chuks has been the Women’s Program
Director for Hoops for Hope in Lawrence, Massachusetts from 1998 to
2006.
Chuks currently resides in Methuen, Massachusetts.
KJ Krasco joined the Merrimack College women's basketball staff in May of 2010.
Before arriving at Merrimack, she spent three seasons as the head coach of the Clarkson University women's basketball team. In just her second season at Clarkson, she helped the Knights double their win total from her debut season.
Prior to Clarkson, Krasco, a native of Medford, Massachusetts, spent two seasons as an assistant coach for the nationally-ranked St. Lawrence University Saints, helping guide the team to an impressive mark of 43-12 over two campaigns, including an NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2006-07 season.
Prior to coaching for the Saints, Krasco starred as a guard at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, registering 1,044 career points in the course of her four-year career. While playing with the Chargers, she led the team to 82 victories over four seasons, pushing Colby-Sawyer to a .713 winning percentage and four post-season appearances, culminating in an NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2004-05 season. A 2005 graduate with a degree in Exercise and Sports Science, it was during her senior campaign that Krasco earned numerous accolades, including the New Hampshire Division III Women’s Basketball Most Valuable Player award, First-Team New Hampshire Division III All-Star honors, and a Third-Team New England Women’s Basketball Association nod. Along with ranking eighth on the Chargers’ all-time scoring list when she graduated, Krasco finished among the institution’s all-time leaders in 3-point field goals made (154, third all-time) and free throws made (198, eighth all-time).
During her two years at St. Lawrence, Krasco also earned a
masters degree in Education Administration. In addition to two
years on the bench at St. Lawrence, Krasco also has worked at
numerous basketball camps, specifically Bentley College, Stonehill
College and Amherst College, all residing in Massachusetts.
