May 24, 2001

COLUMBIA, Mo. - University of Missouri head women's basketball coach Cindy Stein announced that Edith Thompson will join the Tigers' coaching staff this season.

Thompson spent last season at Rhode Island after spending six seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State. A former Buckeye herself, she coached several Ohio State players who went on to play professionally, including two-time All-American and former Olympian Katie Smith, now with the Minnesota Lynx of the WBNA, and Adrienne Johnson of the WNBA's Orlando Miracle.

Thompson, a native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, took part in the high-point of the Ohio State women's basketball program. Under head coach Nancy Darsch, who was an assistant coach on the 1984 and 1996 U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball teams, the Buckeyes won the 1993 Big Ten championship and reached NCAA National Championship game before dropping a heartbreaker to Texas Tech, 84-82.

Thompson, a two-year starter, led the Buckeyes to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance (1982) and to a pair of Big Ten Conference championships (1987 and 1982). Thompson received her bachelor's degree in education from Ohio State in 1995.