Photo by: Gary Dineen/NBAE
Christie Sides Named Assistant Women's Basketball Coach
10/6/2016 4:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern women's basketball head coach Joe McKeown announced today the addition of Christie Sides to his coaching staff. Sides replaces Shauna Green who was recently named the head women's basketball coach at Dayton.
"We are really excited about Christie joining our family at Northwestern," McKeown said. "She brings great experience and energy to our program. Her success in the WNBA with the Sky as well as her three Final Four appearances at LSU will be a great asset to the Wildcats. I have watched her teach and talk about her basketball philosophy and it is a great match for us."
Sides comes to NU after serving as an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky for the last six seasons, alongside Pokey Chatman. Together they helped lead the Sky to their first Eastern Conference Championship and WNBA Finals appearance in 2014. She has 12 years of coaching experience at the college, international and professional levels.
"I am excited to join the staff of the Northwestern women's basketball team," Sides said. "I am looking forward to working along side such an experienced coaching staff and am excited to have the opportunity to develop these young ladies, not only into better basketball players, but into maturing adults. Northwestern embodies the full definition of student-athlete and I look forward to coaching such a well-rounded group of hard working young women.."
From 2008-2011, Sides served as an assistant for Spartak Moscow Region in Russia, where she helped Head Coach Pokey Chatman lead Spartak to consecutive FIBA EuroLeague Championships in 2008 and 2009. Sides also served as an assistant on the Slovakian Women's National Team coaching staff in the same period, helping the team qualify for the European Championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Slovaks took eighth place in 2009, their highest finish of Sides' tenure.
From 2004-2007, Sides was an assistant on the Louisiana State University staff also under Coach Chatman. She helped guide the Lady Tigers program to three Final Fours and two Southeastern Conference regular season titles in her three seasons with the team.
Prior to LSU, Sides spent the 2003-04 season at Louisiana Tech as an assistant coach. Sides began her coaching career as the head junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach at Ruston (La.) High School where she served under Ricky Durrett. While at Ruston, Sides helped guide the Lady Bearcats to consecutive state playoff appearances.
Athletically, Sides played her first two collegiate seasons at Ole Miss for Hall of Fame Head Coach Van Chancellor and helped the Rebels to a 34-22 overall record. She then transferred to Louisiana Tech where she finished her playing career for fellow Hall of Fame coach Leon Barmore. Sides helped the Lady Techsters to a 61-6 record in two seasons, including a trip to the 1999 Final Four. She holds the career record at Tech for three-point field goal percentage and ranks seventh in three-pointers made and eighth in three pointers attempted.
Sides is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.