Christian Blanks Joins WBB Staff

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UCLA head women's basketball coach Cori Close has announced the hiring of Christian Blanks to the position of video coordinator with the women's basketball staff. He reported to his new post today and will oversee all facets of the Bruins' video operations.

Blanks spent the past season as the video coordinator intern with the Maryland Terrapins' women's basketball team. The Terps have reached the Final Four in each of the past two seasons. He assisted in all game video operations including game capturing, live coding and live scouting. He also assisted in advanced scouting of opposing teams and in the creation of recruiting videos.

"Christian is a tireless worker who takes great pride in everything he does," Maryland head women's basketball coach Brenda Frese said. "We are thrilled for him to have this opportunity at such a prestigious program like UCLA. His future is very bright. He will learn so much from Coach Close and her staff and they will benefit from his creativity and attention to detail."
 
Prior to his stint at Maryland, he served six months in 2014 as a basketball operations intern with the Washington Wizards of the NBA. While with the Wizards, he assisted the front office staff with daily basketball operations and assisted in the preparation of the 2014 NBA Draft by conducting background checks on prospects and producing biographies on draft candidates.
 
While a student at Hampton University (2010-13), Blanks spent his summers as an intern working with a couple different WNBA teams. He served as a community relations intern with the Seattle Storm during their 2011 season and also served as a practice player. Then in 2012 until this season, he was a practice player for the Washington Mystics.
 
"Christian Blanks will bring great energy and knowledge to the UCLA program," Washington Mystics head coach and general manager Mike Thibault said. "He has been excellent in our organization in practicing against our players in a manner that has greatly improved them individually and as a team. He has worked with our coaches in developmental drills, as well as preparing our team for opponents. His past video work and attention to detail will be a great asset to UCLA. We wish him the best of luck."

That practice player experience will serve him well as he will be in charge of UCLA's male practice player squad, coordinating the squad's efforts in training to assist the Bruins' team in preparation for the season.

Blanks replaces Wendale Farrow, who left UCLA to become an assistant coach for head coach Melanie Balcomb at Vanderbilt.