More than a decade after the 51-game Big Sky conference losing streak that defined the early 2010s, Weber State University’s women’s basketball Head Coach Jenteal Jackson has completely transformed the program in the three seasons since her takeover in 2023.
To date, Jackson’s tenure at Weber is highlighted by the third-place conference finish she led the team to during the 2024/25 season — an outcome that upset early predictions of a last-placed record and secured the No. 4 seed at the 2025 Big Sky tournament for the first time since 2018.
Jackson relishes “the growth aspect” of coaching and delights in the relationships she builds with her players each year.
“I’ve definitely seen a ton of growth and development with this team,” Jackson said. “I’m never going to be someone that claims that I know everything because I don’t … So, really being willing and able to continue to grow and evolve and learn through every scenario … I’d say, is the biggest thing.”
Before joining the Wildcats, Jackson launched her coaching career at Westminster University, on the golf course and the basketball court, between 2013 and 2023. It was there that she acquired technical expertise and cultivated her leadership style alongside role models such as Elaine Elliot, Shelley Jarrard and Betsy Specketer.
“I feel very fortunate to have really good mentors who I’m still in contact with,” Jackson said. “I feel like I just tried to take in as much as I possibly could, again, to grow and learn as much as I could in that time and try to shape me into the coach that I wanted to be and needed to be to continue in this career.”
In her playing days, Jackson was a star multi-sport athlete in her own right. In 2008, Deseret News named her Ms. Basketball in recognition of her 5A high school MVP performances, while her college career saw her put on a show for Brigham Young University 31 times before signing with Westminster and winning back-to-back Frontier Conference regular-season championships. From the Griffith golf tee, Jackson won two Conference Player of the Year awards and helped her team secure two Frontier Conference team titles.
With the 2025-26 season coming to an end, Jackson now looks forward to picking up where she left off next year in spite of the fluid dynamics and high turnover of college sports.
“I think the group that we have and the core that we have here that will return is exciting,” Jackson said. “Everything they’re learning and going through and all the growth that they’ve seen this year, the development and the learning, can just snowball into that next season.”
