Muscatell, who spent the past four seasons as an assistant at Oregon (1999-03), becomes the sixth women’s basketball head coach in the program’s 38-year history.

“I’m very excited about Dan accepting the head women’s basketball coaching position at Sacramento State,” Wanless said. “Dan brings a wealth of recruiting experience to the Northern California region which we think is important for our program at this time.

“He also has great on-floor coaching experience which is necessary for our program to elevate itself in the Big Sky Conference.”

While at Oregon, Muscatell was involved in all aspects of the program, including the coordination of recruiting efforts and the coaching of offense and defense. He also worked with both the perimeter and post players. The Everett, Wash., native was responsible for bringing in one of the nation’s top recruiting classes in 2001, a six-member class that was ranked No. 17 in the nation by All-Star Girls Report.

During his four years at Oregon, the Ducks combined to post a record of 74-49, including two NCAA Tournament appearances (2000, 2001) and a National Invitational Tournament (NIT) championship in 2002. Oregon was ranked among the top 25 during three of his four years and won a Pac-10 championship in 2000.

Prior to his stint at Oregon, Muscatell spent 13 years as a boys basketball coach in the state of Washington. He served as the head coach at Rochester High School (1994-99) where he was awarded league coach of the year honors in 1996 and 1998, and area coach of the year in 1999. His teams led the state in scoring defense once and finished second on two occasions.

Before taking over at Rochester, Muscatell spent eight years (1982-90) as the boys basketball coach at Meridian High School in Bellingham, Wash. He was named both league and area coach of the year in 1985 while also serving as the assistant principal during the final four years of his tenure.

Muscatell earned both a bachelor’s (1983) and master’s degree (1990) from Western Washington. He was a two-year starter and team captain for Western Washington (1980-82) and a two-time winner of the Most Inspirational Award. He also played two years (1978-80) at Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash., where he was a two-year starter and team captain.

Muscatell and his wife, Terri, have three children: Keely (18), Jessica (15) and Drew (12).