Volume 28 · Number 4 · Summer 2011
Sports
Jennifer Gross ’97, middle, coaches players during a game.
Women's basketball: Torch passed to former student star
Jennifer Gross ’97, the new UC Davis women's head basketball coach, comes into her job with an Aggie résumé like few others.
Gross starred for her predecessor, Sandy Simpson, and previous head coach Jorja Hoehn in the late 1990s, helping UC Davis to a 29–3 record and a third-place finish at the 1997 NCAA Division II national tournament. She is a member of the Call Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame.
In 2004, with an open position on his coaching staff, Simpson looked to his former point guard, then coaching at San Diego State. He recalled her time as a player.
"Jen demonstrated back then that she had the ability to raise the game of those around her," said Simpson.
Upon her arrival, Gross introduced a form of basketball strategy known in the sport as the "Princeton offense," named for the Ivy League school that pioneered it. The approach relies on precision, teamwork, patience and player intelligence, and can help well-prepared teams defeat bigger, faster and stronger opponents. It seemed a perfect fit at UC Davis, where "scholar" and "athlete" is a time-honored tradition.
"We didn't have the 6-foot-4 post who couldn't move up and down the floor; we had mobile posts who were maybe a little bit smaller. And we had really, really smart kids," Gross said.
As Gross' expertise with the Princeton offense grew, so did her responsibilities in the coaching staff. In 2008, she earned the title of associate head coach and took on more duties.
"I know my experience has been different from most assistant coaches around the country," she said. "I've been put in stressful situations for the last six or seven years, and I now feel ready to handle them."
Moreover, Simpson's emphasis on student-athlete welfare will continue into Gross' tenure.
"We want to teach them," Gross said, "how to live their lives after they graduate from this program. When you teach them respect and accountability, teamwork and selflessness, it's amazing what they bring. The wins happen."