Sept. 17, 2004

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Semeka Randall, a former All-American guard at the University of Tennessee and current member of the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars, has been added to the Michigan State women's basketball staff, head coach Joanne P. McCallie announced today. Randall, who will head to East Lansing after playing in the Stars' season finale Friday night, replaces Janel Grimm-Burgess, who left MSU to pursue other professional opportunities.

"I'm excited about starting a new chapter in my life," said Randall. "I'm walking away from playing the sport, but still part of the sport by giving back and helping kids. I've always believed this is what God had in store for me. I'm thrilled to be at MSU."

Randall's distinguished playing career includes professional experience both in the WNBA and overseas, and a collegiate resume that features All-America honors and a national championship. She was a star guard for the Tennessee Lady Vols from 1997-2001, earning Kodak All-America first-team honors in 1999 and 2000. She was an integral part of Tennessee's 1998 NCAA Championship team that went 39-0, averaging 15.9 points as a freshman while earning honorable mention All-American recognition.

She is completing her fourth year of a WNBA career that has included stops in Seattle (2001-02), Utah (2002) and San Antonio (2003-04), and she has also played in the National Women's Basketball League and in professional leagues in Israel (2001-02) and Greece (2002-03).

"I feel like I've done everything I could possibly do as a player," said Randall. "I won a national championship, I played professionally for four years, I played internationally; through basketball I've seen a whole lot of things. I think it would be great to be a stepping-stone for kids now to show you can get there through hard work and determination. I want to help other women realize their dreams the same way I did."

"I'm very excited that Semeka has joined the staff," said McCallie. "She brings tremendous credibility as a national championship performer, a WNBA performer and a person committed to developing and mentoring people. Her enthusiasm, energy, commitment and focus were absolutely incredible from the very beginning. It was a very easy selection process for me and the staff. It is another example of our efforts to locate proven winners - people who have been where we want to go and people who can share stories about the process and the very exciting journey."

Randall was an accomplished basketball player even before arriving at Tennessee. She was Parade Magazine's Player of the Year and a first-team All-American in 1997 while starring at Trinity High School in Garfield Heights, Ohio. The Cleveland native was Ohio's Miss Basketball in 1996 and 1997, was a member of the 1996 and 1997 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Teams, was the MVP of the Ohio state basketball tournament in 1994 and 1996 and the Gatorade Circle of Champions Midwest Player of the Year in 1997.

The accolades continued during her career at Tennessee. In addition to her All-American honors, she was named Women's Basketball Journal's Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000, was named first team All-Southeastern Conference in 1999 and 2000, was second team All-SEC and a member of the SEC All-Freshman team in 1998 and was on the NCAA Mideast Regional All-Tournament team in 1998 and 2000.

Randall scored 1,915 points during her career at Tennessee (13.7 ppg) and added 716 rebounds (5.1 rpg), 286 steals and 236 assists. She ranks fifth on the Lady Vols' career charts in both points and steals. Tennessee posted a record of 134-10 during her four-year career, including championship game appearances in 1998 and 2000.

During the summer of 1998, Randall was the leading scorer for the gold medal-winning USA Jones Cup team.

Semeka Randall

She graduated in December of 2000, a semester ahead of her class, with a bachelor's degree in speech communications.

Randall was the first player chosen in the second round (17th overall) during the 2001 WNBA draft by the Seattle Storm. She started 30 of 32 games as a rookie, averaging a career-best 9.4 points. Entering Friday night's game, she has averaged 5.8 points during her 122-game WNBA career, including 54 starts.

In 2001-02, Randall started all 16 games at point guard and averaged 19 points while playing for the Israeli Professional Basketball League. She played in the Greek Professional Basketball League in 2002-03, again starting all 16 games for her squad. In 2003, she was a member of the Tennessee Fury of the National Women's Basketball League, averaging 12.2 points as a shooting guard.

Randall got her first taste of coaching during the 2002-03 season, when she was an assistant coach at Cleveland State. During her season at CSU, she worked with fellow assistant coach Al Brown - her former assistant coach at Tennessee who is now also a member of the MSU staff.