Danielle Santos

Position: Assistant Coach Alma Mater: Florida, 2006

Danielle Santos was named women's basketball assistant coach May 28, 2010. Santos comes to Illinois State from Hofstra and was a player at Florida.

She helped coach the Redbirds to their first undefeated Illinois State regular season at home in program history. Santos also helped the Redbirds to their third-straight semifinal appearance in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

Santos joined the coaching ranks right after college and spent the four years (2006-10) as an assistant coach at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., working with her former high school coach, Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. Santos helped guide the Pride to an overall record of 67-61, two 20-win seasons and two appearances in the Postseason WNIT. In her first season with the program, the Pride won a school-record 26 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. She mentored nine All-Colonial Athletic Association honorees and four players who went on to play professionally overseas. Santos served as recruiting coordinator in her final two seasons at Hofstra and signed the No. 41 recruiting class in the nation in 2008-09.

Santos was a four-year letterwinner (2002-06) at Florida for former head coach Carolyn Peck, starting 76 of the 107 games in her career. The Gators qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and 2006 and the WNIT in 2005. As a sophomore, Santos led the team in assists and steals. She finished her career ranked sixth at Florida in free throw percentage (.782), ninth in three-point field goals made (80), 11th in assists (265) and 13th in steals (162).

She earned a bachelor's degree in exercise and sports sciences, specializing in sports management, and minors in business administration and education from Florida in 2006.Santos was a three-time Southeastern Conference (SEC) Winter Academic Honor Roll selection, a 2004 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team selection and a 2005 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar.