Ann Strother plans to play professionally in Europe instead of returning to her job as director of basketball operations for the Colorado women's team later this summer.

Strother was hired in November of 2007 by CU coach Kathy McConnell-Miller.

"She wants to play basketball as long as she can," McConnell-Miller said. "If she was done playing, she would have been able to stay longer (at CU). ... I really miss her."

At the time of Strother's hiring, McConnell-Miller hoped Strother would boostCU's ability to recruit in-state players.

The upcoming 2009 recruiting class is expected to be one of the deepest ever with as many as 15 players from Colorado likely to go to Division I programs. Strother was a star player at Highlands Ranch and at Connecticut, where she won two NCAA titles.

McConnell-Miller doesn't expect the loss of Strother to hurt CU's ability to land the top in-state players.

"From a recruiting standpoint, this staff has really worked the in-state players," McConnell-Miller said Tuesday. "We're really excited with where we're at in-state. We feel confident in our recruiting right now."

Strother hasn't been with the CU program ever since the WNBA season began in May.

She's played sparingly this season for the Atlanta Dream. Strother has played in six games, averaging 4.7 minutes per game.