Ari Wideman has been hired as an assistant coach for the Toledo women’s basketball team, head coach Tricia Cullop announced on April 24, 2023.
Wideman will be joining the Rockets after previously working as an assistant at Arkansas State and San Jose State. In her new role, Wideman will assist the Rockets with perimeter player development, opponent scouting, and recruiting.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Ari joining our coaching staff,” Cullop said. “She is a person of high character who possesses a magnetic personality, tireless work ethic, and incredible knowledge of the game. She is also a relentless recruiter and outstanding teacher. She's the perfect fit for our program as we pursue our third straight regular season championship and second straight NCAA Tournament berth.”
Wideman most recently served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Arkansas State for the 2022-23 season. She helped the Red Wolves reach the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament for the first time since 2016-17.
“I am thrilled about the opportunity to coach at the University of Toledo,” Wideman said. “Coach Cullop and the rest of the staff have established a winning tradition and I am excited to work extremely hard with them and for our student-athletes. I am looking forward to expanding on the Toledo Women’s Basketball tradition and competing for championships in the MAC and make some runs in the NCAA Tournament. Toledo promotes excellence in a plethora of areas, and it has always been important to me to surround myself with that kind of standard for success. Developing and impacting our student-athletes along with helping Coach Cullop in any way possible is what I am committed to doing at Toledo.”
Prior to her time at Arkansas State, Wideman spent four seasons as an assistant coach at San Jose State. In addition to serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator, she coached the Spartans’ point guards and was responsible for opponent scouting while facilitating the team’s community outreach opportunities off the court.
Her first two seasons at SJSU saw the program earn the nation's largest single-season win turnaround, improving from six wins in 2018-19 to 19 victories for the 2019-20 campaign.
Before returning to her home state of California, the Chino Hills native spent nearly two years on the women's basketball staff at Prairie View A&M, where she served as a graduate assistant and was involved in all aspects of game-day operations. She oversaw the team's student managers and practice players, while also coordinating all official and unofficial student-athlete campus visits, in addition to coordinating the program's travel. While at Prairie View, Wideman earned her master's degree in educational administration with Summa Cum Laude honors.
As a student-athlete, Wideman was a four-year letterwinner at the University of Nevada (2010-14) and finished her collegiate career ranked third in program history with 383 assists while being named an All-Mountain West performer as a senior. Her career 77.4-percent mark at the free-throw line and 121 games played are the ninth-best on the program's career lists. In addition, her 136 assists as a senior and 12 dimes versus CSU Bakersfield in 2012 rank sixth on the single-season and single-game lists, respectively.
After her career with the Wolfpack, Wideman spent the 2015 playing professional basketball in Iceland's Domino League for Breidablik. There, she averaged 18.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
