SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Mount Holyoke College Director of Athletics Lori Hendricks has announced the hiring of Jessica Duff as assistant basketball coach. Additionally, she will serve as an assistant to the Athletic Director for the 2013-14 season. A former standout at Wellesley College, Duff will be involved in all aspects of the Lyons basketball program alongside head coach Michelle Scecina, as well as helping with a variety of events within the athletics department.  

“I am thrilled to be a part of the team at Mount Holyoke College,” remarked Duff. “I look forward to not only working with the student-athletes on the basketball team, but with the department as a whole.” 

“We are excited to have Jessica join our department at Mount Holyoke,” stated Hendricks. “She brings great experience and energy. She is already making a difference on my leadership team.”

 “I am very excited to welcome Jessica to Mount Holyoke College,” said Scecina. “She is enthusiastic, professional and is a great fit for our institution.  With her passion for the game and her valuable coaching experience, she will contribute to our program and department in numerous ways.”

Duff comes to Mount Holyoke after serving the past year as the assistant coach for both basketball and volleyball teams at UMass-Boston. In those roles, she was responsible for a number of different aspects, including film breakdown, academic oversight and community service projects.

During that time, Duff also served as an instructional sports coach at the Canton Sports Complex, working with a variety of age level in a number of sports, while also performing administrative duties.

Prior to her time at UMass-Boston, Duff was a graduate assistant for the basketball team at Tufts University for three years, there she was involved in all aspects of team management. Duff also served as a coach at Knucklebones, a group associated with maintaining a “for the love of play” mission for children of all ages in sport.

A former standout at Wellesley College, Duff was a four-year member of both the basketball and volleyball teams. She was a two-time captain and three-time Most Valuable Player for the Blue in basketball, earning All-NEWMAC honors twice while achieving 1,078 career points.

During her volleyball career, Duff served as captain and also earned MVP honors. An All-Conference and All-Region selection, she also garnered National All-America Honorable Mention honors.

An instructor at numerous basketball camps and clinics, including ones at Wellesley, Wheaton College and UMass-Lowell, Duff has also taken on a number of leadership roles. A Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative at Wellesley, she attended the NCAA Women’s Leadership Symposium, while also taking part in the Women’s Sports Leadership project.

Duff, who earned her Bachelor of Arts in women’s studies from Wellesley in 2009, went on to earn her Master’s in Education from Tufts in 2012