Hooshyar Hires Russo As Assistant Coach

STARKVILLE – New women’s tennis coach Chris Hooshyar reached into his recent past to make his first hire at Mississippi State, tabbing Taylor Russo as his assistant coach.

Russo played for Hooshyar during his tenure at Auburn before she broke into the coaching ranks as an assistant coach at Wisconsin last year. During her tenure, Russo helped lead the Badgers to one of the most successful seasons in program history.

“I’m so excited to have ‘T’ join me in Starkville,” Hooshyar said. “I think she’s a great fit for the girls and the program. She’s loyal, hard-working and driven. I think she’s the full package to help develop our student-athletes and make the program better.

“Personally, I’m incredibly proud of her. I’m so grateful I got to coach her and now I’m even more grateful that she’s going to be my right-hand lady as we go and turn the program around. I wouldn’t want anybody else. The Mississippi State fans are going to love her. There isn’t a harder worker or better person out there.”

Russo was actually recruited by Hooshyar to The Plains out of Deerfield Beach, Florida, where she was the top-ranked player in the state and the No. 2 prospect in the Southeast. Russo played for Hooshyar for three years before he moved over to coach the Tigers’ men’s team.

“It’s really cool to be able to go through all the phases of the student-athlete experience with him,” Russo said. “From being recruited and playing for him to now be working with him is special. He’s the only person I’d want to work with for this opportunity. I’m just really excited to be by his side and it’s really cool that we get to do this together. I’ve almost grown up with him and he’s been with me for the last 10 years. I’m really excited to work with him and be at Mississippi State and back in the SEC.”

During her lone season with Wisconsin, Russo helped guide the Badgers to their first victory in the NCAA Championships in 21 years. Wisconsin went 20-7 overall, including an 8-3 mark in Big Ten play and were ranked as highly as 11^th in the nation during the 2023 season.

With Russo’s assistance, Ava Markham and Maria Sholokhova were members of the All-Big Ten team with Markham becoming the first Badger to qualify for the NCAA Individual Singles Championship since 2016.

As a student-athlete, Russo lettered for five seasons at Auburn from…