Judson names Joel Cotton, Kristi Cirone hoops coaches
From Staff Reports May 15, 2012 5:08PM
Updated: June 17, 2012 8:19AM
Judson University has hired Joel Cotton and Kristi Cirone to coach the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The new coaches will be introduced Thursday at a press conference on campus.
Cotton takes over the men’s basketball program after three years as the assistant coach. He started his coaching career at NCAA Division I Indiana University-Purdue University Ft. Wayne under current Michigan State assistant coach Dane Fife. He was the director of basketball operations for three years.
Cotton continued his coaching career as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Anderson University in Indiana. He is a 2003 graduate of Indiana and earned his master’s degree from Purdue in 2005.
Cirone, a former high school All-American at Chicago’s Resurrection High School, comes back to Chicago after two years as the graduate assistant at the Missouri and a short career in the WNBA.
Cirone played for the Connecticut Sun in 2009 and was in camp with the Chicago Sky in 2010. She was four-year starter and captain for Illinois State and a three-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year.
Cirone comes from a family of coaching as her father, Frank, is the girls basketball coach at Northside Prep High School and her uncle, Vito Andriola, is the head football coach at Dundee-Crown High School. She is a 2009 graduate of Illinois State and just received her master’s degree from Missouri.
