University of Georgia Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- cnewton@sports.uga.edu
- Phone:
- 706-542-1541
Chelsea Newton, who has achieved remarkable success as an assistant coach over the last 13 seasons, enters her seventh year on Joni Taylor’s staff.
Newton is widely regarded as a star among today’s coaches and brings a wealth of knowledge to the court. She has coached an impressive list of 14 WNBA players and 18 All-Conference selections in just 13 seasons at Rutgers and Georgia.
Under her guidance, former Scarlet Knight standouts Kahleah Copper and Betnijah Laney were selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft. Newton also helped sign the No. 1 point guard in the country, Tyler Scaife, in 2013. She then helped develop Scaife into the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year in 2013-14 – the same season Rutgers won the WNIT Championship.
At Georgia, Newton has helped guide the program through continued success.
In 2021, the Lady Bulldogs advanced to the SEC tournament finals for the first time since 2004 and then earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The 2017-18 Georgia squad finished second in the SEC standings and earned a top-4 national seed on their way to the largest single-season turnaround in Georgia basketball history.
Newton’s on-court coaching success and her ability to attract some of the nation’s top talent to Athens makes her a vital part of the Lady Bulldog basketball program. As the team’s recruiting coordinator, she has helped Georgia sign three highly-rated rated classes in the last four years. This comes after Rutgers hauled in a pair of top-3 classes. In all, Newton has helped sign 13 top-100 prospects and six top-20 recruits during her career.
Her expertise on the court comes from an equally impressive playing career. Under Hall of Fame Coach C. Vivian Stringer, Newton was a four-year starter and was selected as the team's Most Valuable Player in both 2004 and 2005 (co-honored with Cappie Pondexter). In 2005, she was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year and was tabbed both first-team All-Met and third-team All-Big East. She was also on the 2007 Rutgers' team that finished as NCAA National Runner-Up.
Newton was selected by the Sacramento Monarchs with the No. 22 overall pick in the second round of the 2005 WNBA Draft. and helped the Monarchs to the 2005 WNBA Championship.
Newton also enjoyed a successful overseas career. During the 2005-06 season, she played for both Raanana Hertziliya in Israel and Lotos Gdynia in Poland. After serving as Director of Player Development at Rutgers for the Scarlet Knights during their NCAA runner-up campaign in 2006-07, Newton played two seasons in Italy with Carispe La Spezia in 2007-08 and with Limatic Umbertide in 2009-10.
A native of Monroe, La., Newton was a WBCA and Parade All-American at Carroll High School. She was a three-time All-State selection, was twice named Northeast Louisiana Player of the Year and was valedictorian of her senior class.
