Maniya Custis returns to the Pride as the women’s basketball assistant coach beginning in November 2024.
Custis was a member of the Hofstra women’s basketball team for three seasons after transferring in from UCF prior to the 2021-22 season, making 38 appearances in a Hofstra uniform in her three seasons in Hempstead. Custis represented the Pride on the CAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll multiple times, and she helped the program earn recognition on the WBCA Top 25 Team Honor Roll in 2022-23 and again in 2023-24 for completing the academic year with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher.
In addition to her playing experience, Custis brings experience as an assistant volunteer coach at Heart of a Champion, an AAU basketball organization founded by her parents, Misty and Gary Connelly, in her hometown of Camden, New Jersey, since June 2020. She set up practice areas and helped establish practice plans while creating and utilizing training drills to improve team cohesion and performance. Custis also has experience as a health care specialist at Metro PT in Garden City since June 2023, where she carried out treatment plans for patients, prepared patients for physical therapy sessions, and more.
Custis graduated from Hofstra in May 2024 with her bachelor’s degree in community health.
