Jimmy Howard, a former assistant coach at Maryland and Georgetown, and Julie Flanders, a former standout athlete at George Mason, have been named assistant women's basketball coaches at Howard University.

"Jimmy and Julie understand and embrace the vision we have for our student-athletes here at Howard," said Head Coach Niki Reid Geckeler. "Their vast experiences will be invaluable to our program."

Prior to HU, Howard served one year as the assistant women's basketball coach at Delaware State University. He was also the assistant coach at George Mason, 2000-07, Maryland, 1999-00, and Georgetown, 1997-98. Howard held assistant coaching positions with the men's basketball programs at Wesley College (1989-91) and Greensboro College (1988-89).

The Hornets signed two McDonald All-American candidates during Howard's tenure at Delaware State while the squad was selected for the WNIT Pre-Season Tournament. Howard began his coaching career as a student assistant coach at Wesley, 1987-88.

Howard was the head women's basketball coach at Wesley from 1991-97 and guided the Wolverines to a 22-1 record in his second year at the helm. Wesley finished top-five in NCAA Division III in defensive field goal percentage for five seasons, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997.

A four-year letterwinner at George Mason, Flanders had 10 double-digit rebound games as a senior while posting five double-doubles. She was invited to the Washington Mystics training camp in 2007 and was the first female to play in the all-male ABA league in 2003, playing for the U.S. Virgin Islands' Team on the Move.

Flanders has played professionally in Jamaica and Finland, and for Spain's Vidrogal Alurnisan team of the Federal International Basketball Association (FIBA). In 2006 and 2007, Flanders won a silver medal as a member of the Aanekosken Huima team in Aenekoski, Finland.

She has gained a wealth of experience working with various high schools and leagues. In 2005, Flanders was the assistant women's varsity coach at Hayfield High School (Alexandria, Va.). She also had stints as a camp counselor/coach at the George Mason camp and is an alumnus of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) "So You Wanna Be a Coach" Program.  Last season, former standouts Shannon Carlisle, Asha Santee, Terease Thornton and Reyna Gross were all selected for the prestigious program.