Sports Women's Basketball

Myyah West’s return to UH women’s basketball team a reunion with her ‘family’

Former UH women’s basketball forward Myyah West driving down the lane. After a year away from the program, West is returning to the Cougars, this time on the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. | Courtesy of UH athletics

Former UH women’s basketball forward Myyah West driving down the lane. After a year away from the program, West is returning to the Cougars, this time on the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. | Courtesy of UH athletics

Graduate assistant Myyah West is ready to do her part to help the UH women’s basketball team do something it hasn’t done since 2011 back in its Conference USA days: win a conference championship.

Following the UH women’s basketball team’s announcement that West was joining coach Ronald Hughey’s coaching staff for this upcoming season, The Cougar got a chance to speak with the former forward who spoke on her goals in her first year back and her relationship with the head coach.

“We’re still figuring each other out because we have new coaches on staff,” West said. “Right now, I think our bond (with Hughey) is awesome. We learn from each other each every day and we have a lot to offer each person individually.”

West said that Hughey’s persistence played a part in joining the staff.

For the Prentiss, Mississippi, native, the carefully nurtured family atmosphere that the program has instilled into her from day one will translate into team success along with motivating her return.

West played two seasons for UH after transferring from Jones County Junior College in Mississippi. As a forward, she was a starter for most of her time in Houston before an injury cut her senior season short, which is why she understands the value of living in the present.

West hopes she can pass down those lessons that she learned as a player to the current roster of student-athletes.

It’s a young team that UH will trot out on the court in 2020-21, one made up of mostly underclassmen. Of the 16 players listed on the roster, only three are seniors.

Despite the youth, West said that the future of the program is bright with this roster and that they’re eager to learn and get better.

West hopes that her guidance will be a positive contribution to the same family atmosphere that attracted her as a player when she chose to transfer to UH.

“Coach Hughey and the staff made me feel like I was at home,” she said. “I wanted a little piece of that when I moved away. Everyone wanted you to be better than what you thought you were each and every day.”

As a graduate assistant, West will have a multitude of roles. Her list of duties will range from assisting the players, overseeing team managers, working with the team’s video coordinator and other “ins-and-outs” of the team.

Due to the pandemic, the start of both the men’s and the women’s basketball seasons have been delayed until Nov. 25, just 15 days later than the original start date, and last Wednesday, official practices were finally authorized to take place.

West acknowledged that the extra time before things really pick up has afforded her a balance of schoolwork and work being done in the gym.

For now, she has taken advantage of the opportunities that come with being around Hughey and his staff every day in hopes that the experience will help her with her ultimate goal of being a coach herself one day.

Aside from the team goal of wanting to win the school’s first championship in the American Athletic Conference, West has her own personal goal of wanting to be present for the players and do her part the best she can.

She hopes to continue to learn from the program and people that have already taught her so much, both on and off the hardwood.

“I hope it puts me in a position to be a better person like it has done in previous years,” West said. “I just want to learn all I can so I can apply it to my life and whatever the next step it is I’m going to take.”

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