Arizona women’s basketball will certainly be well-staffed next season. New head coach Becky Burke announced the addition of director of staff operations Allese Williams and the retention of director of basketball operations Lauren Flaum.
Flaum’s role is well-defined. It’s a position that exists in most programs that involves handling most of the logistics required by the program. That includes travel arrangements, meal planning, budgeting, and practice scheduling, among other things.’
What Williams will be doing is less clear. The program’s press release did not specify job duties, and it’s not a position that has existed at Arizona before. In general, the job description for such a role involves overseeing all staff-related activities. It is essentially a human resources planner. The general manager’s job description of Michelle Marciniak also included program operations and staffing.
Flaum came to Arizona two years ago after serving as the DOBO at Tulane for three years. Before that, she served on the Toledo women’s basketball staff for seven years, working in various administrative capacities and as the video coordinator. She also worked as a graduate assistant at her alma mater, Eastern Michigan.
Flaum holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from EMU. She also earned a certificate in Higher Education Compliance from the Toledo College of Law.
Williams comes from Buffalo, where she spent two years as Burke’s DOBO. Before that, she served as an intern in the Alabama athletic department. She also played for Burke for two years at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. She holds a bachelor’s from Embry-Riddle and a master’s from Alabama.
The addition of Williams and retention of Flaum gives Arizona a staff of five coaches and three administrators. Arizona also still lists Ryan Thorne, the director of recruiting operations from Adia Barnes’ staff, but there has been no formal announcement about whether he will stay. If he does, that gives the program an administrative staff of four.
Last year, Arizona had four coaches, a special assistant to the head coach, a director of basketball operations, and a director of recruiting operations. For part of the season, the staff also included performance enhancement coach Chris Allen, but he left to take a job in the NFL partway through the year. His role was taken by existing staff from the strength and conditioning team in the athletic department.
Lead graphic courtesy of Arizona Athletics