Former standout point guard Leslie Vorpahl to return to Tulane women’s hoops as Graduate Assistant

Vorpahl spent last season playing professionally in Romania

NEW ORLEANS – Following a year playing professional basketball abroad, former Tulane star point guard Leslie Vorpahl will be retuning Uptown to serve as the Green Wave’s graduate assistant, coach Lisa Stockton announced Wednesday.

Vorpahl, who earned her degrees from Tulane in business management and marketing in 2017, spent the last year playing basketball for CS Universitatea Cluj Napoca in Romania. She was the team’s leading scorer and passer, racking up 15.7 points and 6.0 assists per game.

“We are very excited to welcome Leslie back to Tulane,” Coach Lisa Stockton said. “Having Leslie’s contagious energy and excitement around every day will be such a positive for our team and our staff. This is a great opportunity for Leslie to learn more about coaching while sharing her successful experiences with her former teammates.”

Vorpahl will put aside her professional career for now and return to coach the Green Wave while working on a graduate degree.

“I’m just excited to be working with one of the best coaching staffs in the business,” Vorpahl said. “I’ve always wanted to coach, and it’s going to be an easy adjustment because I have these solid relationships with the coaches and student-athletes.”

At Tulane, she stands as the 12th-leading scorer all-time with 1,255 points. She still sits third all-time in assists (558), third in assists per game (4.3), fifth in 3-pointers made (192), fifth in 3-pointers attempted (528), fourth in 3-point percentage (.364) and fifth in minutes played (3,679). She is one of just three players in team history have more than 200 assists in a season, recording 201 assists in her senior year. She is also one of just two players in program history (Ashley Langford) to finish with more than 1,000 points and 500 assists.

As a junior and senior, Vorpahl was named Third Team All-American Athletic Conference, and she earned the league’s Scholar Athlete of the Year and Sportsmanship Award as a senior. Her junior year also saw her win Most Improved Player in The American, and she was on the Conference USA All-Freshman Team in her first year with the Green Wave.

Vorpahl had an interest in coaching dating back to her time with the Green Wave, attending the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s “So You Want to be a Coach?” program in 2017.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Vorpahl will be seeking her graduate degree in health and wellness management.