Rousseau to Coach Pepperdine

Former WNBA coach and Stanford assistant Julie Rousseau has been hired as the women’s basketball coach at Pepperdine, Athletic Director John Watson said. She replaces Mark Trakh, who is the women’s head coach at USC.

A Los Angeles native, Rousseau was an assistant, interim head coach and head coach with the Sparks for parts of the 1997 and ’98 seasons. She spent the last four seasons at Stanford.

“I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving Stanford,” Rousseau said in a statement. “I feel it has been a blessing for me to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Stanford family and learning from Tara VanDerveer while receiving tremendous support from everyone associated with the women’s basketball program and university.

“At the same time I want to thank John Watson for allowing me the opportunity to join the Pepperdine family. Everyone I met during my time there was extremely professional and I am excited to be a Wave.”

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-- Mike Terry