New Tiger coach Milena Flores spent two years with the WNBA's Miami Sol

During assistant women's basketball coach Milena Flores' senior year at Stanford, she was offered the ultimate postgraduate opportunity. In April 2000, she was drafted by the Miami Sol of the WNBA.

"Being drafted was surreal," Flores said. "I was just at school while it happened, and a week later I was playing in Miami. Playing in the WNBA was an honor and a privilege — I got to play basketball and call it my job."

Flores brings plenty of experience to her new job at the University. She was a point guard at Stanford and started her career off by helping the Cardinal reach the Final Four in 1997, where the Cardinal fell to Old Dominion by a single point in overtime. Flores was a first-team All-Pac-10 honoree in 1999 and 2000, and she ranked third on Stanford's all-time assists list. Her performance in the classroom was also exemplary, as she was twice named a first-team Academic All-Conference honoree.

Flores played in her first professional game against Indiana within a month of the draft. At just five foot, six inches, she was one of the smallest players in the league. After two years in Miami, Flores took on a new challenge by joining Lithuania's Lietuvos Telekomas.

"I got to see Europe through basketball gyms," Flores said. "I was the only American on the team. Fortunately the players spoke English, but I did have to learn some Lithuanian to call out plays. As a point guard, I was used to being a communicator."

After playing in Lithuania for two years, Flores switched to coaching and joined the staff at the University of the Pacific.

"I loved being around the game and thinking about the game, and I loved the team dynamic," Flores said. "I just naturally fell into coaching."

At Pacific, Flores worked with the guards and coordinated the team's academic support program. She left after two seasons in pursuit of a school with a balance of academics and athletics similar to that of Stanford. During the 2004-05 season, she coached at Lehigh, where the team finished with a 19-10 record for second place in the Patriot League. Guard Sara Ellis was a second-team All-Patriot League honoree that year. In 2005, Flores joined the coaching staff at Yale.

"The Ivy League experience forces you to realize there is life beyond the basketball court," Flores said. "Your players are being pulled in so many directions, and you don't want to draw them away from their other experiences."

During her two seasons at Yale, Flores helped the team to a nine-win improvement from her first year to her second. Last year, Yale's guard Melissa Colborne was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

When new head coach Courtney Banghart was looking for a new coaching staff for the University, she prompted Flores to make another career move to coach the Tiger guards.

"Flores has a great working knowledge of the game, having worked at such a high level," Banghart said. "She was also a very good personal friend of mine, and in my first round of hiring trust was essential. I knew that she would put in the long hours."

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Though she has contributed to so many different teams, Flores is full of enthusiasm about working with the Tigers.

"The team is full of incredible young women, and I love going into the office each day," Flores said. "You can really tell how much all the students love being here. The life of a coach can take you to so many different places and so many different levels. This is the right place for me right now — I'm dedicated to making Princeton a championship team."