LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former University of Louisville star Monique Reid has joined the Bellarmine University women's basketball coaching staff as an assistant after enjoying an extensive professional playing career overseas, Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan announced Monday.

A two-time first-team All-Big East selection with the Cardinals, Reid decided to hang up her sneakers in June, retiring after a distinguished decade of playing abroad in which the 6-foot-1 small forward captured numerous MVP awards, scoring titles and championships.

A Louisville native who attended Fern Creek High School, Reid met Dugan last summer at the unveiling of a renovated basketball court in Louisville's Shively Park, a project shepherded by Reid's former U of L teammate, All-American Angel McCoughtry. Reid expressed an interest in coaching but told Dugan she wanted to play for one more year.

The two kept in contact over the last year and after the last stop of Reid's playing career, in Saudi Arabia, Dugan informed her that there was an opening on the staff.

"The timing was perfect because I did want to retire, and to have a plan after retirement is always good," the 33-year-old Reid said. "My goal always was to play professional basketball. Coming out of college, I was told not to play because I had a knee injury (my senior year), but I wanted to take playing basketball as far as I could. I just thought it was a good time to retire because I was beginning to miss home a lot, and I want to settle down and start my family. One thing I always wanted to do is step away from the game walking and not get pushed out of the game because I'm old or anything like that. I wanted to go out on my terms. I won a championship in Lux (Luxembourg), so I think that's the perfect way to leave."

Dugan had long been an admirer of Reid and jumped at the opportunity to add her to her staff.

"We are so excited to have Monique on staff," Dugan said. "She is someone who I've always followed and watched throughout her career. She has dedicated her life to basketball, first as a player and now as a coach. After playing 10 years overseas, she has made a lot of connections. She is very excited to break into the coaching side of basketball."   

Reid's international stops included Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Chile, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Over a decade, she was named MVP four times and earned 10 total championships while frequently winning the scoring title, including in her last full season, which came in Turkey when she averaged 30.9 points per game.

"I think the best thing about it was the connections I made with all different types of people and all different types of cultures," Reid said. "I literally played almost everywhere, and I've met so many people and always have a place to go back to if I ever need to — like I have family in Egypt that, while they're not blood, are always going to be my family. I've won championships, I've elevated my game a lot since college and I had a lot of fun. It was amazing to get to travel for free and to get paid just to play basketball. I'll never take that for granted. I got to see a lot of cool things and meet a lot of cool people. The most important thing I got out of it was the culture."

After scoring 2,666 points in four years at Fern Creek High, Reid became one of the most prolific players in U of L history. She still ranks in the program's all-time top 10 in career points (1,725), rebounds (802), field goals made (643) and free throws made (430) in a tenure that spanned from 2008-13. She was named first-team All-Big East as a sophomore and junior and helped lead the Cards to the Final Four — and NCAA Tournament runner-up finishes — in 2009 and 2013.

"I've always had a passion for working with kids," Reid said. "It could be younger kids, older kids — doesn't matter. I'd work a lot of camps in the summer, and it was a situation where I wanted to give back. I also gained a lot of knowledge by playing for (Louisville Coach) Jeff (Walz), who was a real technical coach. I learned a lot about basketball, and I think sitting out my senior year (after a knee injury) made me more knowledgeable about the game and made me want to coach even more. I wanted to give what I've learned and everything I have to the next person, so they can be better than me."

Bellarmine was a Division II program when Reid was at U of L. The Knights will now be entering their fourth season in Division I and fourth in Freedom Hall, which was home to the Cardinals in Reid's first two seasons with the program.

"My goal is to help them see that they can be bigger," Reid said of the Knights. "I'm not saying we're going to go out and beat a Louisville, beat a UCLA this year, but I'm going to show them how to work a little harder, I'm going to show them that they have a little more in them than they think they do, because basketball is hard. I went to the Final Four twice at Louisville, and that wasn't easy. I cried, I bled and I wanted to quit at times, but I made it through and I want to give that to them. I think my love for the game and my passion is what I can give to them."

Reid smiled and laughed before adding: "And I can definitely show them how to get a bucket."

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights) and Facebook (BUKnights).