Bucknell University Athletics
Carissa Nord Joins Women's Basketball Coaching Staff
7/23/2015 11:06:00 AM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell head women's basketball coach Aaron Roussell has announced the addition of Carissa Nord to the coaching staff. In her six seasons of collegiate coaching, Nord has been to the NCAA Tournament five times as an assistant on teams in Division I, II and III, including one year working on Roussell's staff at the University of Chicago.
Nord comes to Bucknell after spending the past four years at South Dakota State, one as a graduate assistant and the past three as a full-time assistant coach. The Jackrabbits made the NCAA Tournament in three of those four seasons and reached the final four of the WNIT in the other. Nord was in charge of the development of the team's point guards, while also holding recruiting and scouting responsibilities. During her time there, the Jackrabbits posted a 99-36 record, including an amazing 53-9 mark in the Summit League, and won three conference regular season titles and three league tournament titles.
"I am very excited to have Carissa join our staff,” Roussell said. “Her presentation and materials during the interview impressed the rest of our staff and have us eager to implement some new ideas. Carissa's experience at one of the best mid-major programs in the country will be invaluable to us as we continue to build our program. She has learned from a leader in Aaron Johnston, who I consider to be one of the nation's top coaches. There is also a comfort in that she has worked for me before and probably understands our offense better than anyone I know."
Prior to South Dakota State, Nord was a graduate assistant coach at Wayne State College, where she helped guide the team to a 26-4 record and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title. The Wildcats were ranked as high as sixth in the nation and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament. That came just one year after Nord went to the NCAA Division III Tournament as an assistant coach at the University of Chicago.
Nord received a master's degree in sport and recreation studies from South Dakota State in 2013. She finished a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Superior in 2009. While at Wisconsin-Superior, she was a three-year member of the women's basketball team and averaged more than 10 points per game during her career.
Bucknell returns four starters from last year's team that went 18-12, the program's best record since the 2006-07 season. The Bison have been the fourth seed in the Patriot League Tournament in each of the past two seasons.
