Six years after her graduation, two-time WNBA All-Star Brionna Jones is back with Maryland women’s basketball.

Jones will be part of the Terps’ coaching staff as director of player personnel for the 2023-24 season.

“It’s great to come back to the school where it all started for me,” Jones told The Diamondback. “That’s just my next step of growth, trying to understand the coaching side of it and working with young players and trying to bring the best out of them.”

Jones, the 2022 WNBA Sixth Player of the Year, will be with Maryland as she continues to recover from a ruptured Achilles tendon during the 2023 WNBA season.

She hopes to share her experience and knowledge with the Terps, becoming a resource Jones wishes she had as a college player.

“Whatever they need from me, I just want to be here to give it to them, whether it’s on the court, off the court, it’s whatever aid I can help. That’s what I want to do,” Jones said.

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Jones’s experience in the WNBA gives her a perspective that the rest of Maryland’s staff doesn’t have, coach Brenda Frese said. In Jones’ first week with the team, she’s already made an impact both with the players and her fellow coaches.

“I feel like we’ve hit the lottery,” Frese said.

Jones also sees joining the staff as a great opportunity to learn the game from a coach’s perspective after playing four years at Maryland and six years in the WNBA with the Connecticut Sun.

Jones played at Maryland from 2013 to 2017. She helped the team to back-to-back Final Fours in 2014 and 2015 and three consecutive Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.

The Havre de Grace, Maryland native is tied with Vicky Bullet for the seventh-most points in program history with 1,928. Her 1,209 career rebounds are the third most in Maryland’s history.

Jones has made her mark in the WNBA after being drafted No. 8 overall by the Sun in 2017. She won Most Improved Player in 2021, Sixth Player of the Year in 2022 and earned All-Star honors in 2021 and 2022.

Jones was a key factor in the Connecticut Sun trip to the 2022 WNBA finals, averaging 10.3 points and four rebounds per game in the postseason.