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April Phillips was hired as assistant women's basketball coach on April 21, 2021.
She returns to Arizona after spending two seasons at California and was an assistant coach on the 2018-19 Arizona team that won the WNIT.
After her year at Arizona where the Wildcats won 24 games and a WNIT title, Phillips coached at California for two seasons where she helped Cal sign four top 100 recruits in the class of 2020. ESPN had Cal’s recruiting class ranked No. 7 in the country and signed McDonald’s All-American Dalayah Daniels, who averaged 12 points and seven rebounds as a freshman at Cal this past season.
During her time at Arizona, she helped sign a class that consisted of Helena Pueyo, one of Arizona’s top three-point shooters and defenders on the team. She also worked with the posts in her year at Arizona, helping guide the development of Cate Reese who was a three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Freshman Team.
Prior to her first stint at Arizona, Phillips spent three seasons at Loyola Marymount, including the last two as the program’s associate head coach. As the Lions’ recruiting coordinator, Phillips helped land two of the top recruiting classes in program history and was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Thirty Under 30 in both 2017 and 2018.
Before her time at LMU, Phillips spent the 2014-15 season as a graduate manager at Georgia Tech and the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach at the University of New Haven. Leading up to her time in Connecticut, Phillips served as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at Seton Hall, assisting Hall of Fame coach Anne Donovan with practice planning, recruiting, student-athlete welfare, and day-to-day operations.
Prior to her return to the college ranks, Phillips served as co-president, head trainer, and coach from 2010 to 2013 at S&A Next Level Basketball, an organization that runs NCAA-certified women's leagues in addition to various clinics and camps. She also served as the general manager of basketball operations of Sportsplus in Cincinnati, Ohio from 2010 to 2011, where her responsibilities included marketing of basketball leagues, camps and training
A native of Los Angeles, Calif., Phillips began her collegiate basketball career at Georgia Tech, playing for the Yellow Jackets during the 2005-06 season. Following her freshman year, Phillips transferred to Xavier where she played basketball and competed in track and field. She was named to the All-Atlantic 10 third team her senior season and helped Xavier to three NCAA Tournament appearances and two Atlantic 10 titles. As a senior in 2010, Phillips held lead the Musketeers to the Elite Eight, falling just two points shy of the first Final Four appearance in program history. Phillips also excelled in track and field, setting the school's outdoor shot put record.
After graduating from Xavier in 2010 with a degree in Business Information Systems and minors in Communication and Gender & Diversity Studies, Phillips was invited to preseason camp with the New York Liberty of the WNBA and played professionally in Israel, Finland and Belgium.
