Jhasmin Player begins her second year as an assistant coach with the University of Maine staff. Player will continue to work closely with the Black Bear guards as well as breaking down video and developing scouting reports.

University of Maine women's basketball head coach Richard Barron announced the hiring of Jhasmin Player as an assistant coach on May 23, 2011. Player is a 2009 graduate of Baylor University where she spent four years as a member of the Baylor women's basketball team while also earning a degree in speech communication.

"I am very excited to have Jhasmin join our staff," said coach Barron. "Jhas was a terrific player and leader on our team at Baylor. She has a very competitive spirit and is a tireless worker. She had a successful career playing overseas and is ready to share what she has learned as a coach. Jhas has a wonderful personality and an infectious optimism that will be a great asset for our team. Maine will love her!"

"I am super excited about this opportunity! You could never understand how honored I am to begin my coaching career with Maine," commented Player. "I'm also honored Coach Barron would even consider me when looking for coaches. He is someone I know, love and respect. There are very few people I would end my playing career, pack up all my belongings and move half way across the country for but Coach Barron is definitely one of those people. I've only been a Black Bear for a short time and I've already heard from so many people affiliated with the University. I'm super excited and, although I'm not even in Maine yet, the emails and phone calls I've received are very warm and welcoming. I cannot wait to begin this new journey with the Maine Black Bears."

Player, a four-year member and two-time captain of the Baylor University Women's Basketball team, helped lead the Bears to four consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, including a trip to the Sweet-16 and a Big 12 Championship in 2008-09.

The Bay City, Texas native was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament team in 2009 and was a Second Team Big 12 member in 2008 as well as being named to the Big 12 All-Defensive team in 2007.  Player finished her career at Baylor with 991 total points, averaging 8.1 per game for her career, while racking up 490 rebounds and 287 assists in 122 games played.

"I am so happy for Jhasmin," commented Baylor head women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey. "This is a great opportunity for a great young lady. The University of Maine will love her just as the Baylor family loves her. Jhasmin understands the game and will work hard to make women's basketball successful at Maine."

After graduating from Baylor in 2009, Player took her talents overseas, playing a year professionally in Portugal, where she was named Offensive Player of the Year as well as Import Player of the Year. Player continued her professional career the following season in Spain where she led her team to the top spot in their conference and was named to the Import First Team for her efforts.

Player has taken part in numerous camps and instructional classes. Player was the camp coach and directed all aspects of the Jhasmin Player Basketball Camp in Bay City in 2010. She planned, scheduled and managed the camp that taught over 50 kids from 6-18 years old specific basketball skills and drills to help them further improve their game.

She also assisted as a camp instructor at the Doris Miller Family YMCA in 2010 before conducting fitness classes for children and adults at Velocity Sports Performance in 2009. At Velocity Sports Performance, Player instructed proper running and weight-lifting techniques while designing effective fitness and cardio workouts.

Player was a camp counselor at the Kim Mulkey Basketball Camp from 2005-2009 and also volunteered her time as an assistant basketball coach at DFW Elite in 2009 while also taking time to aid teachers in daily lesson plans with the children at Kids-N-Company in Waco, Texas. Player spent two years volunteering with the Special Olympics in Waco in 2005 and 2006.