Amber Brown won’t be sticking around Pittsburgh to find out who the program hires as its next women’s basketball coach.
Brown, a four-year starter for the Panthers, entered the transfer portal on Tuesday, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to Pittsburgh Sports Now.
A 6-foot forward from Monroe, Louisiana, Brown was one of former head coach Lance White’s first recruits. White was fired earlier this month after five straight losing seasons.
But Brown often shined and was a bright spot for the Panthers amidst all those losses. She was an important player too, starting in all 110 games that she featured in. Brown averaged 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 45.6% from the floor.
Brown was also the fastest Pitt player in more than 20 years to record at least 550 points, 450 rebounds and 100 assists, doing so in 67 games. She was twice an ACC Freshman of the Week as a rookie in the 2019-20 campaign.
This past season, she was 10th in the ACC in free throw shooting percentage with a 74.8% mark.
What was likely Brown’s best game as a Pitt Panther came earlier this season in an overtime loss to Ball State where Brown tallied 20 points, 17 rebounds, two assists and three blocks. In a loss at Syracuse in January, Brown tallied a career-high 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. She had nine double-doubles in her career at Pitt.
Her 684 career rebounds are 10th all-time in Pitt program history.
Brown will graduate from Pitt this spring with a bachelor’s degree in communications. She will be immediately eligible to play wherever she transfers too and will have one year of eligibility left.
At the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. earlier this month, Brown told Pittsburgh Sports Now that White was “like a father figure” to her.
Pitt has interviewed at least four coaches for its opening, according to a previous Pittsburgh Sport Now report.
The transfer portal opened on Monday and will be officially open for 60 days. Brown isn’t the only ACC women’s basketball player to enter it in the past few days. Duke’s Lee Volker, Boston College’s Maria Gakdeng, Clemson’s Tadassa Brown, N.C. State’s Jessica Timmons, and Louisville’s Jalyn Brown and Zyanna Walker have also entered.
