University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Tharrington & Jurko Join 2016-17 Women's Basketball Staff
08.02.2016 | Women's Basketball
Asheville, N.C. – UNC Asheville women's basketball welcomes two new staff members for the 2016-2017 season. Joyous Tharrington will be joining head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick as an assistant coach and Andre Jurko will step into the role of director of basketball operations.
Joy Tharrington comes to Asheville from Liberty University where she spent two years as a graduate assistant after playing two years at Richmond from 2008-2010 before transfering to George Mason University for her final two seasons (2011-2013).
"We are excited to have someone with Joy's experience and familiarity with the Big South Conference joining our staff. In her past two years serving as a graduate assistant at Liberty, she worked with a very talented program that earned an NCAA berth and a WNIT bid. She learned a tremendous amount regarding all facets of running a high level basketball program.” Kirkpatrick stated. “Joy has a passion for mentoring and encouraging young student-athletes as well genuine excitement for the game of basketball. With time spent as a player at both George Mason and University of Richmond, I am confident she will bring a variety of perspectives and experiences to the table to help continue growing our program."
As a player, Joy was team captain both years at George Mason. She also, maintained a 3.7 or higher GPA throughout her undergraduate studies. Tharrington made both the Virginia Sports Information Directors Academic All-State team and the CAA All-Academic first team during her final season at George Mason.
"I feel extremely humbled and blessed to be given the opportunity to work with Coach Mock and her staff. There is an obvious commitment to the student-athlete as a whole, seeing success on the court, in the classroom, and the community. I could not be more excited to be joining the UNC Asheville family and I look forward to working with the staff and student-athletes to help accomplish their personal and program goals. It's a great time to be a Bulldog!"
Andre Jurko is entering his first year with the UNC Asheville basketball program. He will be assisting behind the scenes with video, scouting, and travel arrangements among other things.
Prior to joining the Bulldogs, Jurko was an assistant coach for Sagemont High School in Weston, FL and helped a nationally recognized program reach the State Finals in Class 3-A. His responsibilities with the team included scouting, individual skill development, team workouts, summer camp supervisor, and statistician. He helped develop players that are now playing college basketball at UCLA, MIT, Boston College, Illinois State, Ogelthorpe, Rhodes, and Manhattanville.
A native of Weston, FL, Andre went to Cypress Bay High School prior to enrolling at Florida State University for four years as an engineering major. Prior to graduation, Jurko decided to pursue a career in athletics and enrolled in the University of Florida's Sports Management program. He will be earning his B.S. in December of 2016.
"We are excited to welcome Andre to UNC Asheville. His work ethic, attention to detail and desire to assist the staff in continuing to build something special became evident during conversations during his interview process this summer. Both his experience as a scout team member at Florida State and his coaching experience at Sagemont prepared him to jump in and contribute with our program right away."
