Georgetown women’s hoops coach Tasha Butts steps away to focus on battle with breast cancer

Georgetown women’s basketball head coach Tasha Butts is stepping away from the team to focus on her ongoing battle against breast cancer, the school announced Thursday. Associate head coach Darnell Haney will lead the Hoyas in Butts’ absence.

Butts was diagnosed with an advanced stage of breast cancer in 2021. Her diagnosis inspired the Tasha Tough campaign that brought awareness and raised money to “bring quality care” to women who can’t afford services through the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

She became the Hoyas head coach in April following the dismissal of James Howard.

Butts spent four years as the associate head coach at Georgia Tech under head coach Nell Fortner. She had been an assistant going back to 2007 at Duquesne. She also had stops at UCLA and LSU.

Before her coaching career, Butts played collegiately at Tennessee. She was a second-round draft pick of the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. She appeared in all 30 games as a rookie. Her playing career also extended overseas to Portugal and Israel.

Butts took over the Georgetown program, looking to get the Hoyas to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012.