On April 12, Jenteal Jackson was named the head coach of Weber State University’s women’s basketball team following an upsetting season.

Last season, the women’s team had a 6–25 overall record and a 2–16 conference record with a 20-win percentage for the season.

“I’m extremely excited to be the new head coach,” Jackson said. “I think Weber is a great place with a great, supportive community. I’m really looking forward to the adventure with the women’s team and Weber State fans.”

Jackson is joining the Wildcats from her previous position as head coach at Westminster College, where she started with a 17–9 overall record, and a 17–12 record the next year.

Jackson also played basketball in college. She played for the BYU Cougars for two seasons, and plans to add her knowledge of the game to the Wildcats.

“We are going to start to build to get the program headed in the right direction, and that starts with recruiting and just implementing as much strategy and dial in as much as we can on the X’s and O’s with our kids as much as possible,” Jackson said.

Jackson said they have a plan in place for this upcoming season, and she feels confident they will get things going in the right direction. Jackson said a way to bring a winning mentality is by making everything a competition.

“That starts every day in practice,” Jackson said. “We’re already starting to make every drill a competition. Every time we step on the court, we want them to be hungry and compete. We want them to always have winning in mind and have it be held high in really important no matter if it’s a drill, or a little scrimmage in practice or an actual game.”

Jackson said she looks forward to working with the players who stayed and can’t wait to work with the new pieces they added and that she really wants to cultivate a culture that is healthy and happy.

“A big message that we try and convey to our players is that it’s going to be so much bigger than basketball,” Jackson said. “Basketball is a part of what we do and something that we will do every day together but we are going to be there for them on and off the court.”

Jackson said everyone she has met at Weber so far has been great, and she is looking forward to being a part of the big sky and looking forward to working with this group of girls.

The women’s team has some new and returning players, and they hope to have a bounce-back season with Jackson at the helm.