Bruno adds 2 to DePaul staff

Two former Division I head coaches, Jill Pizzotti and Lisa Ryckbosch, have joined the Blue Demon staff, DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno announced Tuesday.

Pizzotti was named an assistant coach, while Ryckbosch will take on duties as the program’s director of Professional, Corporate and Community Relations.

“Together they bring close to forty years of total women’s basketball coaching experience in addition to 19 years of Division I head coaching experience,” Bruno said. “Both Lisa and Jill will play vital roles as we continue to work to move our DePaul program up the women’s basketball food chain.”

Pizzotti, a Lombard native, returns home with nearly two decades of experience in women’s basketball — as a head coach, assistant coach, student-athlete and also in the women’s basketball division at Nike. She will serve as the Blue Demons’ recruiting coordinator and also assist with the day-to-day operations of the basketball office.

Most recently, Pizzotti spent the 2010-11 season at West Virginia and helped the Mountaineers to a school-best, 24-10 record and to the NCAA Tournament. As the recruiting coordinator she helped WVU to the 13th best recruiting class in the nation. Pizzotti joined the Mountaineer staff in 2010 after serving the previous five years as the manager for women’s basketball at Nike. Before joining Nike, Pizzotti was the second-winningest women’s basketball coach in Saint Louis University history and guided the program to its first-ever postseason tournament appearance in the 2003 WNIT. Pizzotti was at the helm of the Billiken program from 1996-05 where she recorded double-digit wins in seven consecutive seasons.

Ryckbosch, who served on the Blue Demon staff from 1991-2002, returns to Lincoln Park after spending the last nine seasons at University of Illinois-Chicago as that program’s head women’s basketball coach. Ryckbosch posted 128 wins and left UIC as the program’s all-time winningest coach.