Log In


Reset Password
  • MENU
    Local News
    Friday, May 03, 2024

    Friends & Neighbors: CT Sun announces staff promotions and hires

    On March 7, Connecticut Sun's Head Coach Stephanie White finalized her support staff for the 2023 season. White welcomes back Analisse Rios as strength and conditioning coach, Nicole Alexander as head athletic trainer, and Peter Feeney as director of basketball operations and player personnel. New to the Sun sideline this season will be Keith Porter as player development coach, Kevin Owens as video coordinator and Gabriella Mendonca as equipment manager.

    “I am thrilled to work with this staff. We have a great group of passionate, energetic basketball minds that are committed to helping our players develop and position our team for success,” White said.

    Rios enters her fourth season at the helm of strength and conditioning for the Connecticut Sun. With the team, her duties include facilitating team and individual warmups and cooldowns on game days and during practices, employing functional fitness workouts, and designing off-season workout and lifting programs for players. She is also the director of sports performance and fitness center manager for Connecticut College Athletics, where she works with both Men and Women’s Division III teams in a variety of sports including basketball, soccer, ice hockey, lacrosse and field hockey.

    Alexander begins her third year as Connecticut Sun Head Athletic Trainer after joining the team in 2021. Prior to the Sun, she spent time as the athletic trainer with the UNC Family Medicine Center at Durham and as the Head Athletic Trainer for the women’s basketball program at the University of North Carolina. Alexander’s athletic training experiences also include stops at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Florida, Syracuse University and USA Basketball.

    Feeney returns for his sixth season in an elevated role for the Connecticut Sun. Feeney, the Sun’s new director of basketball operations and player personnel, has held many positions for the organization over the last few seasons including basketball operations manager, assistant video coordinator and equipment manager. In his new role, he will be responsible for scouting international players for the draft and free agency, as well as working with Assistant General Manager Morgan Tuck to evaluate players throughout the league. Feeney will also be managing the equipment staff, basketball interns and all basketball-related analytics, in addition to coordinating travel and scheduling logistics.

    Porter, a native of New London, enters his first season with the Connecticut Sun as the team’s player development coach. He is the founder and head coach of Progression Training LLC, a training facility that provides personalized basketball training to players of all ages, located in Groton. Over the past year, Porter and Progression Training have partnered with the Connecticut Sun to run basketball camps and clinics for aspiring young basketball players statewide. Prior to opening his own facility, Porter played collegiate basketball for two seasons at the University of Connecticut Avery Point (Division III), where he led the nation in scoring in 2015 with 29.6 points per game, was named an All-American and was inducted into the program’s Hall of Fame. Porter went on to play professionally in Spain and Puerto Rico.

    Owens begins his first season with the Sun as the organization’s video coordinator. Owens, a Texas native, has a plethora of experience, most recently working with the Maine Celtics (NBA G League) as the video coordinator and assistant coach for the 2022–23 season. Owens has also held positions with the Texas Legends (NBA G League), the University of Dallas men’s basketball program and the USBA Chinese basketball school. He played basketball at Trinity University in San Antonio from 2015 to 2019, where he graduated with a double major in Marketing and Chinese Mandarin.

    Mendonca enters her first year with the Sun as the team’s equipment manager. She is currently a senior at the University of Connecticut, set to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management. Mendonca, a native of Bethel, Conn., has served as a student manager for the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team for the last two seasons and is also an equipment manager for the men’s and women’s basketball programs.

    Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.