Staten Island, NY - Wagner College head women's basketball coach #Gela Mikalauskas# has announced the hiring of former Rutgers University standout Heather Zurich as a graduate assistant coach for the upcoming season.

"We are pleased to have Heather join our coaching staff at Wagner,” said Mikalauskas. “She had a great career at Rutgers and comes highly recommended by Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer. Her experience of going to the Final Four as a player in addition to playing overseas will help our players set the bar high."

Zurich replaces Whitney French, who recently completed her graduate studies before accepting a full-time coaching position with Rider. She will work primarily with newly appointed assistant coach Brett Self on individual post player development and assist on perimeter instruction.

Zurich played collegiately under the direction of renowned head coach and 2009 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recipient C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers, where she helped the Scarlet Knights to four Sweet Sixteens, two Elite Eight appearances and one Final Four from 2005-2009. As a sophomore in 2006-2007, her Rutgers' squad won the program's first BIG EAST Tournament Championship before advancing to the NCAA Championship Game against Tennessee.

As a senior, Zurich turned in arguably her finest performance in an 80-52 upset of No. 2 seed Auburn in the NCAA's Round of 32. The Garden State native scored 12 points, on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting, while limiting SEC Player of the Year and current WNBA Player DeWanner Bonner to 17 points, on just 5-of-15 shooting.

Zurich served as a captain in her final campaign and helped the Scarlet Knights to 102 victories over her four seasons, which are the second-most by a class in the history of Rutgers women's basketball.

“Heather has a high basketball IQ and a tremendous work ethic,” said Stringer. “I have no doubt she will inspire the young women of Wagner to reach their fullest potential.”

Her success was not limited to the court as Zurich was named to the Big East Academic All Star Team as a senior and was a member of the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

Following graduation, she played this past season with Auto-Cad Amazone in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Zurich helped Amazone to a 16-13 record and a fourth place finish in the Dames Eredivisie in The Netherlands with a 15-11 divisional record. She finished second on the team in scoring (12.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.9 rpg) before helping the squad to a 2-3 post-season record and a position in the semi-finals, where Amazone lost to the ProBuild Lions.

Zurich graduated with a 3.273 GPA from Rutgers and will be pursuing her MBA in business at Wagner.