Shelley Patterson Leads 2025 AU Pro Basketball Coaching Staff

Led by Head Facilitator Shelley Patterson, the group features four WNBA assistant coaches and two of the leading figures in player development.

Meet the 2025 staff below.

Shelley Patterson — Head Facilitator

Shelley Patterson returns to AU Pro Basketball as the head facilitator for the 2025 season. She was a facilitator during the inaugural AU Pro Basketball season.

Patterson’s WNBA coaching career spans over 20 years with five championships. She joined the Washington Mystics in 2022 and guided the team to a pair of playoff berths. She has also served as a coach for the New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, Los Angeles Sparks, and the Minnesota Lynx, with whom she spent 10 years on the bench.

Minnesota totaled a 231-109 record with four WNBA Championships during Patterson’s time and held the top spot on the Western Conference standings six times from 2010-19. 

Patterson made her WNBA debut on the bench in 1999 with the Houston Comets, serving as the director of basketball operations during their championship run. She was the head coach of the National Women’s Basketball League’s Chicago Blaze in 2005 and a member of the American Basketball League Philadelphia Rage coaching staff in 1998.

She graduated from Washington State in 1984 and appeared in 84 contests for the Cougars from 1980-83. Her 237 career steals and 2.8 steals per game average rank fourth on the career ledger.

Karima Christmas-Kelly — Facilitator

Karima Christmas-Kelly is beginning her second season as an AU Pro Basketball facilitator this season. She also served as an assistant coach for the Indiana Fever during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Christmas-Kelly was selected 23rd overall by the Washington Mystics in the WNBA Draft and spent 10 years in the WNBA, competing for Washington, Tulsa, Indiana, Tulsa/Dallas, and Minnesota. She helped the Indiana Fever win the 2012 WNBA title after contributing 2.9 points per outing over 16 appearances. She ranks eighth on the Tulsa/Dallas all-time list with 249 offensive rebounds, while ranking ninth in free throws made (418) and attempted (518). She also spent time playing professionally in Israel, Italy, and France. 

She was a four-year letter winner at Duke who started 55-of-134 games from 2008-11. She finished her career with 1,052 points, guiding the Blue Devils to 114 victories. She was a two-time pick to the ACC’s All-Tournament Team after leading Duke to consecutive regular season and tournament titles as a junior and senior. She is sixth on the Blue Devils’ career ledger with 315 offensive rebounds.

Austin Kelly — Facilitator

Austin Kelly will serve as an AU Pro Basketball facilitator for the first time in 2025.

He led the Connecticut Sun to back-to-back WNBA semifinal berths as an assistant coach and recently joined the Indiana Fever coaching staff for the 2025 campaign.

Kelly was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at UT-Arlington from 2021-23, helping the Mavericks to the 2022 Sun Belt Championship and their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2007.

He served as the director of recruiting at Vanderbilt from 2019-21 and worked as a graduate assistant and assistant scouting coordinator at Georgia Tech during the 2018-19 campaign. He also spent time as the boy’s basketball coach at South Cobb High School and Kell High School and as a player development specialist at Champion Performance Training.

Kelly was a member of the Duke football program and played one season of basketball at George Southwestern.

Roneeka Hodges — Facilitator

Roneeka Hodges joins AU Pro Basketball as a facilitator for the 2025 season. She was recently named an assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun after serving as an assistant coach for the New York Liberty from 2022 to 2024. She helped guide the Liberty to three WNBA postseason appearances, including the 2024 WNBA title.

Hodges competed for six teams over 11 seasons in the WNBA after being selected 15th overall by the Houston Comets in the 2005 WNBA Draft. She also played for the Minnesota Lynx, San Antonio Silver Spurs, Indiana Fever, Tulsa Shock, and Atlanta Dream. 

She appeared in 320 games, including 136 starts, and averaged 6.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. She also competed overseas.

Hodges began her coaching career as an assistant at Old Dominion, where she helped the Lady Monarchs reach the Conference USA Tournament semifinals during the 2020-21 campaign. She also spent a season at Colgate before joining the Liberty staff.

She spent her college career at LSU for three seasons before transferring to Florida State for her final season of eligibility. Her 39-point performance as a Seminole against Maryland on January 16, 2005, still stands as the second-highest mark in program history. She also ranks as one of six players in Florida State history to score 600 or more points in a single year. 

Hodges represented the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games, guiding Team USA to a 5-2 record and the Silver medal. 

Danielle Viglione — Player Development

Danielle Viglione enters her fourth season as an Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball facilitator during the 2024 campaign, including her third year in charge of player development. Viglione, who joined the coaching staff for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks before the 2023 season, holds fifth place on the Longhorns’ career list after collecting a 15.8 scoring average over 105 games from 1993-97. She posted a school-record 293 career three-pointers and owns the single-season mark with 115. Viglione was named the 1994 Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year.

Viglione played one season in the WNBA, appearing in six games with the Sacramento Monarchs during their inaugural season in 1997. She played 10 years overseas, spending time in Israel, Turkey, and Italy.

She is the owner of the Sacramento Skills Academy and was inducted into the CIF Hall of Fame in 2014, the Sacramento Hall of Fame in 2015, and the UT Athletics Women’s Hall of Honor in 2019.

Ryan Sypkens — Player Development

Ryan Sypkens is entering his first season as a player development coach with AU Pro Basketball.

He is the founder and CEO of Touch Shooting in California, an organization that focuses on growing the game of basketball for boys and girls and providing player development and coaching team and individual concepts.

Previously, Sypkens was the head of skill development with Prolific Prep in California. He has also guided the Golden State Prep (GSP) team, a fifth-year post-graduate men’s basketball program to prepare athletes for collegiate basketball.

He played professional basketball overseas, spending time in Colombia and Japan, following four years at UC Davis. Sypkens appeared in 126 games with 88 starts and finished his career with a 10.1 scoring average. He graduated as the most prolific three-point shooter in UC Davis and Big West Conference history. He set school and conference records with 315 three-point field goals, including a school-record 106 three-pointers during the 2012-13 campaign. He also established the Aggies’ single-game standard with 10 three-pointers against Simpson on January 2, 2014.

The fourth season of AU Pro Basketball will run from February 5 to March 2, 2025, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now.