Seattle University women’s basketball head coach John Bonner finalized his coaching staff ahead of the 2026-27 season with the hiring of associate head coach Jason Pruitt, as announced by the program.
“I am so excited to bring a coach like Jason to our staff,” Bonner shared. “He has an abundant amount of championship experience and will be an immediate impact with our Redhawk family. Jason is an educator and he will utilize his knowledge as a means of growth and development for our student athletes; both on and off the court.”
“Jason will help us with managing all day to day internal operations” he continued, “be prominent in our roster/NIL management, and work alongside me to make in-game philosophical decisions and strategies.”
Pruitt’s extensive career most recently brought him to the Midwest, where he was hired as Indiana State women’s basketball’s associate head coach for the last two seasons. While with the Sycamores, Pruitt helped guide the program to a quarterfinals appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament after doubling the program’s victories seen in his first year.
Pruitt’s coaching prowess over the past decade turned multiple programs in rebuild into conference contenders. Prior to Indiana State, Pruitt served as head coach at Elmhurst, where in one season he elevated the program by nine wins from the previous year while securing the team’s first CCIW tournament appearance since the 2018-19 season. His systems transformed the Bluejays on both ends of the floor, improving their offense by nearly 20 points per game while forcing 13.5 steals and 43.2 rebounds per game. That season, Pruitt guided the program to its most wins since 2017-18.
Before his year at Elmhurst, Pruitt spent five seasons at La Verne as the program’s head coach. He inherited a program that went 3-22 before his arrival and turned La Verne into one of the top teams in Division III over his tenure. Pruitt captured a 67-62 record in five seasons at La Verne, securing four double digit winning years and six first team all-conference recognitions in that time span.
In his final year at La Verne, the program finished with a 24-3 record, where it grabbed a SCIAC regular season title and spent multiple weeks amongst the DIII national rankings. That year, Pruitt was named D3 Hoops Region 10 Coach of the Year while his staff was tabbed SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year for their assistance in La Verne’s record setting season. The program went 15-1 in conference play and earned its first ever No. 1 seed in the SCIAC tournament.
Prior to La Verne, Pruitt spent the 2016-17 season as head coach of Antelope Valley, where he led the Pioneers to a 19-7 record and an 11-3 record in Cal Pac Conference play en route to a regular season championship. That year Pruitt was named Cal Pac Coach of the Year while the program took home three all-conference selections, including defensive player of the year.
Pruitt got his head coaching start at Bethesda, where he elevated the Flames to one of the National Christian College Athletic Association’s top programs. Under his guidance, Bethesda earned its first ever post season appearance in 2013-14 and maintained that level of success into each of the next two seasons. Bethesda claimed back to back NCCAA Western Region championships in 2014-15 and 2015-16, which earned Pruitt a pair of NCCAA Western Region Coach of the Year honors in those same years. In 2014-15, Pruitt led Bethesda to the NCCAA national championship, where the program earned a runner-up finish.
Pruitt also coached at Caltech, where he was the men’s basketball’s associate head coach, and NSU University School where he served as men’s basketball’s associate head coach.
Before stepping into coaching, Pruitt spent a decade within the media industry, serving in various positions at NBC, CBS and ABC networks. He also spent time teaching from high school to collegiate level classes, leading courses in communications, marketing and journalism.
Pruitt was a decorated multi-sport athlete in both basketball and track & field for Colbert County HS in Alabama, where he earned a pair of high jump state championships and a basketball state championship title in 1997. He took his game to the next level, playing basketball at Calhoun Community College, where he won a NJCAA Alabama state championship and appeared in the NJCAA national title game. He finished his collegiate athletic career between both Mississippi Valley State and Kentucky State. In 2024, Pruitt was inducted into the Colbert County Sports Hall of Fame.
Pruitt earned his associate’s from Calhoun Community College before completing his bachelor’s degree in mass media arts from Clark Atlanta University. He later earned his master’s in educational technology from Nova Southeastern.
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