Athletics Director Jim Schaus couldn't fit his excitement into just one simile. He needed two.

"I feel like we just won the national championship," Schaus said, "or we just hit that half-court shot at the buzzer."

Schaus enthusiastically announced the hiring of Semeka Randall as Ohio's new women's basketball coach Friday - just 10 days after Sylvia Crawley's departure to Boston College, but not soon enough as far as he was concerned.

"When you know, you know," said Schaus, who added that Randall's name popped up over and over again in his research of potential candidates. "She wants to be here and that's exciting...As soon as we ran into her, search over.

"She's the right person at the right time for this program."

Randall, 29, was signed to a five-year contract and will make an annual salary of $142,000.

"I want to take the Ohio Bobcats to the next level," Randall said, "a level that will put us to the top of the map and manifest our dreams to get to that NCAA Tournament.

Like Crawley, Randall played four years in the Women's National Basketball Association. In her final season with the San Antonio Silver Stars, she played alongside Crawley, who Randall said contacted her to gauge her interest in the Ohio job.

Randall served as an assistant at Cleveland State for one year before holding a three-year stint as a Michigan State assistant from 2004-07, coaching Ohio transfer Jenny Poff in her final season as a Spartan. In 2005, the Spartans played for the national championship and made the postseason every year thereafter.

"There's no thrill like that Big Dance," Randall said, "and that dance is fun."

Most recently, Randall served as an assistant at West Virginia, which advanced to the second round of this year's NCAA tournament.

"If you want to win, you have to find a winner," OU President Roderick McDavis said. "And we have found a winner."

Originally from Cleveland, Randall was named Miss Ohio Basketball in both 1996 and 1997 before moving on to the University of Tennessee to play under legendary coach Pat Summit. In 1998, as a freshman, Randall was the leading scorer on the 39-0 national championship squad.

Randall said she still talks to Summit, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, "every day," and will take her advice to "surround herself with good people" when filling the still-vacant assistant coach positions.

"Success breeds success and Semeka, really at every turn, has (had it)," Schaus said. "When you analyze those things, they aren't coincidences."

Randall takes over an Ohio program that had its first 20-win season since 1994-95 and made its first appearance in the Mid-American Conference championship game since 1986. With Crawley leaving after only two seasons, it is also a program that will see its third coach in the last four years.

"Trust is always going to be an issue," Randall said. "I'm going to have an open-door policy. They got to give me a chance, I got to give them a chance. We just have to take our time to get there and I believe we can do that."

Randall met with the team two hours before the announcement and was "grilled with questions," she said.

For seniors Lauren Hmiel and Chandra Myers, Randall's hiring brought back memories of a book they were required to read a few years ago, Raise the Roof, which chronicled Tennessee's 1997-98 season.

"It was kind of fun to have a background on her," said Hmiel, who along with Myers will play for her third coach since coming to Ohio. "Playing under Pat Summit, she'll probably grab a few things from her. If something isn't going right she can be like ‘Hey Pat, help me out.'"

Randall emphasized that "we have begun to raise the bar" after last season's MAC championship run and the team's focus will be on defense and rebounding.

"We're going to be exciting," Randall said. "It's my job to show them the way, but also remember to have fun. And, more importantly, we're about winning."