Bowling Green State University women’s basketball head coach
Jennifer Roos has announced the promotion of
Jesse Fleming to associate head coach.
“I am happy to announce this well-deserved promotion for Jesse,” said Roos. “Jesse is one of the top male assistant coaches in the women’s basketball profession. Since joining the staff in 2012, he has been the defensive coordinator for the program and has done a tremendous job. He is invested in the women’s basketball program at Bowling Green and in our community.”
Fleming joined the BGSU staff in June of 2012, and has helped the Falcons to 21 wins per year over his first three seasons with the Brown and Orange. In his first two years on the staff, Fleming helped BGSU to an overall record of 54-16 and a Mid-American Conference mark of 28-6. The Falcons advanced to national postseason play in each of those two years, with a combined 5-2 mark in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament in that time.
“I’m humbled and honored to receive this title,” said Fleming. “It’s been a wonderful three years of learning under Coach Roos here at BGSU, and I’d like to thank her for this opportunity. I’m lucky to work with quality people like Coach Roos, Jacey Brooks, Sahar Nusseibeh and Monique Rosati. We will continue to do everything we can to recruit, develop and coach players to the Falcon standards of success.”
In 2013-14, Fleming helped the Falcons finish with a 30-5 record. The win total was the second highest in both BGSU and MAC history. That team won the MAC’s regular-season title outright, with a 17-1 league mark, and posted non-conference wins over regional foes Ohio State and Michigan. BGSU downed U-M a second time, downing the Wolverines in the WNIT as the Brown and Orange advanced all the way to the quarterfinal round of that 64-team tournament.
In May of 2014, Fleming was rated 20th in the entire nation among assistant coaches by Felicia Hall & Associates, as the organization named the 2014 A Step Up Assistant Coach of the Year and corresponding top-25 list. Coaches were chosen based on criteria which included team success, team improvement from the previous season, fulfillment of team potential, and the professional manner and attitude of the coach.
In his first season with the team, Fleming helped the Falcons go 24-11 overall with a MAC record of 11-5. That team picked up WNIT wins over SMU and Duquesne before falling by three points to eventual tourney champion Drexel.
Fleming helped the ’12-13 Falcons set several program standards at the defensive end of the floor. BGSU allowed just 54.3 points per game, a new school record, and the Falcons surrendered just 51.9 points per contest in MAC games, again breaking a school record set the previous winter. Opponents shot only 36.1 percent from the field in MAC games, also a school-record low for the Falcons. In all games, the Falcons’ foes’ field-goal rate of 37.3% was the lowest allowed since the 1976-77 season. And, BG allowed the opponents to shoot only slightly better, 37.4%, the following year, as BGSU was ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense in that 2013-14 season.
In August of 2014, Fleming was one of just 40 assistant coaches across the nation selected to attend the inaugural WBCA Assistant Coaches Leadership Workshop in Parris Island, S.C. The workshop was a joint venture between the WBCA and the U.S. Marine Corps, designed to teach small-unit leadership tactics, techniques and procedures.
Fleming joined the BGSU staff after spending the 2011-12 season at Stony Brook University on the staff of Beth O’Boyle. Fleming’s recruiting efforts with the Seawolves helped the team improve its win total by 10 victories from 2011-12 to 2012-13. The ’12-13 team had posted the fifth-best turnaround in the nation at the conclusion of the regular season.
Prior to his stint with the Seawolves, Fleming spent six years at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, on Jim Crowley’s staff. He was associate head coach during his final season (2010-11) with the Bonnies.
At Stony Brook, Fleming managed the program’s recruiting operations, and was the staff’s liaison for student-athlete academics. He assisted in all facets of the program, including game scheduling, individual player development, game scouting and budget.
At SBU, Fleming helped the Bonnies to over 20 wins in each of his last three seasons with the program, which resulted in WNIT appearances in each of those three campaigns. The initial trip to the WNIT, in 2009, marked the program’s first-ever postseason berth. In Fleming’s six years on the SBU staff, the program established school records for wins four times.
Fleming’s resume also includes a brief stint as an assistant coach at Louisburg (N.C.) College prior to taking the SBU job. He was a student manager at SBU from 2001-05, and was a volunteer assistant coach with the Olean H.S. girls basketball team during the 2004-05 season.
Fleming graduated with honors from St. Bonaventure in 2005, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/mass communication. He married the former Stephanie O’Callaghan in May of 2014.
