UNIVERSITY PARK — Tanisha Wright spent five years coaching in the WNBA, and she’s hoping that experience will translate over to the college level.

Wright was introduced as the Penn State women’s basketball team’s new head coach on Monday afternoon.

“I think my experience with being in pro, dealing with roster management, dealing with contracts, dealing with agents and building those relationships positions me to be able to handle the landscape that’s happening now,” Wright said.

Wright was the head coach of the Atlanta Dream for four seasons after a 14-year WNBA playing career. She was the 2022 AP Coach of the Year.

But coming back to Penn State, where she enjoyed a successful college playing career, should help with the transition. She was officially hired by PSU last Thursday.

“Even though this is home, I’m like the new kid on the block,” Wright said. “Nobody in the neighborhood is the same people in the neighborhood, so it’s just time for me to sit back, evaluate the things I need to evaluate, and then we’ll assess from there.”

Wright replaces Carolyn Kieger, who went 84-123 in seven seasons and was fired in March. Wright said she’ll try to build the Lady Lions back to a national powerhouse. Penn State has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2014.

“I’m a proud alum,” Wright said. “I want to represent Penn State at all times. And so that is something that has been hard seeing it where it’s at. And so again, having the opportunity to kind of step in and rebuild the program and put it back in a place where we’ve always known it to be the … I think that that’s been something that has been at the forefront when I started the conversations of whether or not this was the right time to do it.”

Wright is the program’s seventh coach. Wright played in four NCAA tournaments at Penn State and was a three-time Big Ten defensive player of the year and an All-American in 2005.

“She didn’t just play here. She helped define what winning looks like as a Penn State Lady Lion basketball player,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said. “Now she comes back to start the next chapter. When you talk to Tanisha, one thing becomes clear very quickly: This place matters to her. This is personal. She knows what it means to wear a Penn State uniform. She understands the responsibility that comes with it, the hard work, the sacrifice and the standard, because she lived it.”