Hooshyar Hires Russo As Assistant Coach
June 22, 2023 | Women's Tennis
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 11th 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 2017-21 and was twice named a captain for the Tigers. She was selected to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2017 and was the ITA Southern Region Senior Player of the Year in 2020. She was a five-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member, was tabbed to the SEC Community Service Team three times as well as winning the Spirit of Auburn Award in 2020 and the ITA Southern Region Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award in 2021.
On the court, Russo racked up 90 doubles wins and 85 singles victories, both of which rank in the top six in program history. She was ranked as highly as 60th in singles and No. 2 in doubles during her collegiate career and her 175 total career victories are the fifth-most in Auburn history.
Following her playing career, Russo spent the 2021-22 as a graduate assistant for Auburn's student-athlete enhancement and AuburnYOU, the Tigers' comprehensive life skills program. She has also spent time working as an instructor at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn and The Rick Macci Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida.
Russo graduated from Auburn in 2020 with a degree in journalism and went on to obtain her master's degree in communications there as well in 2022. She spent also two seasons working as a digital media intern with the Tigers' men's tennis team where she spearheaded all social media efforts for the program.
For more information on the Bulldog women's tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
