Abi Olajuwon

Abi Olajuwon was named assistant coach for Sun Devil Women’s Basketball in April of 2025.   Olajuwon comes to the Valley of the Sun from the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun where she was part of a staff that helped lead the Sun to the WNBA semifinals in both of her seasons on the bench.   During her time in Connecticut, Olajuwon not only coached the WNBA All-Star Team in 2023, but helped in the development of some of the league’s top players, all of whom accumulated numerous accolades in 2023 and 2024. The most decorated player during Olajuwon’s two seasons was Alyssa Thomas, who was named a WNBA All-Star, All-Defensive First Team and All-WNBA First Team both seasons. Thomas was also named to the AP All-WNBA First Team in 2024. In addition to Thomas, Olajuwon also coach WNBA All-Stars DeWanna Bonner (2023 and 2024) and Brionna Jones (2024).    Olajuwon served as the Defensive Coordinator for the Nigerian National Team in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Her scout against Australia made history not only by capturing the country’s first win in the Olympics but helped lead Nigeria to the quarterfinals stage. Before then, no African team, men or women, were able to make it out of the pool play. With Olajuwon’s scout, Team Nigeria earned world respect by only losing to Team USA by 14 points. Before Olajuwon joined the staff for the 2024 Olympics, Nigeria’s previous encounter with Team USA was a 54-point loss in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament that same year.   Olajuwon coached at TCU for 4 seasons where she served as the recruiting coordinator. Going into the 2020 Big 12 tournament, TCU was as the #2 seed, only behind Baylor in the conference. During her tenure, TCU was ranked in the top 25 by The Associated Press and Olajuwon also worked with forwards and centers.   Prior to her appointment at TCU, Olajuwon was assistant coach at Eastern Michigan for two seasons as the recruiting coordinator. In both of her seasons, the Eagles signed the MAC conference top recruiting class, which were ranked in the Top 25, nationally.   Olajuwon began her coaching career at Cal State Fullerton where she was an assistant coach for two seasons. While with the Titans, Olajuwon had a big impact on helping freshman Michelle Berry lead the Big West with 12 double-doubles while averaging 14.5 points and 9.1 rebounds on her way to Big West All-Freshman honors.   During her career, Olajuwon has worked with two of the most prominent Sun Devils who both contributed to the remarkable success of the program. While with the Connecticut Sun, Olajuwon shared the bench with fellow assistant coach, Briann January, Sun Devil Hall of Famer. Olajuwon also coached Promise Amukamara in the Paris Olympics in 2024.   A 2010 graduate of Oklahoma, Olajuwon played in the 2009 and 2010 Women's Final Four and won Big 12 Championships in 2007 and 2009. As a senior in 2009-10, she started all 38 games at center, averaging 10.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Olajuwon and Britney Brown – also an assistant coach during Olajuwon’s time at TCU – were teammates for one season at Oklahoma. Brown was a senior and Olajuwon was a freshman in 2006-07.   Olajuwon, the daughter of Hakeem Olajuwon, was a third-round pick by the Chicago Sky in the 2010 WNBA Draft. After playing one season with the Sky, Olajuwon signed with the Tulsa Shock in 2011. In addition to the two WNBA stops, Olajuwon played overseas for clubs in Hungary, Romania, Isreal, Croatia, France, Brazil, China and Spain in a three-year professional playing career.   A Los Angeles native, Olajuwon starred at The Marlborough School where she won three state championships. After her senior season in 2006, Olajuwon was named a McDonald's All-American as well as a WBCA and USA Today All-American.