The University of Washington has named Jody Wynn its head women’s basketball coach, Director of Athletics Jennifer Cohen announced Friday. Wynn comes to Seattle after serving as the head coach at Long Beach State for the previous eight seasons.
“I am thrilled to welcome Jody and her family to the University of Washington,” Cohen said. “She has built a culture of excellence at Long Beach State, which has inspired championship values and achieved results. She possesses a fierce competitive nature, and always operates with the utmost integrity. I believe her skill set and experiences are the perfect fit to capitalize on the momentum our program has built and lead us into the future.”
Washington will formally introduce Wynn as its 11th women’s basketball coach at a press conference Monday, April 17 in Alaska Airlines Arena at 3 p.m. PT.
Wynn comes to Seattle with more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience. Most recently, she led Long Beach State to three consecutive 20-win campaigns, including its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1992. The 49ers nearly pulled off one of the tournament’s biggest upsets this season, narrowly falling to No. 2 seed Oregon State 56-55.
In her eight years at the Beach, Wynn, a four-year letterwinner and starting guard at USC from 1993-96, also led the team to eight Big West Conference appearances and three WNIT showings.
“I am thrilled to be part of such a prestigious University, and to build on a tremendous women’s basketball culture that has been established at Washington” Wynn said. “The city of Seattle loves basketball, and I’m excited to bring our family there, and to build a wonderful family environment within our program.”
In 2015-16, Wynn guided Long Beach State to its most wins since 1990-91 with a 24-9 overall record. The Beach tied for second in the Big West regular-season standings at 12-4, and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
After guiding the 49ers to its first winning record in nine seasons in 2013-14, Wynn led Long Beach State to 20 wins for the first time in 15 years in 2014-15.
Prior to her time at Long Beach State, Wynn spent five seasons as the senior assistant, recruiting coordinator and head of scouting at USC, where she was in charge of bringing in four nationally-ranked recruiting classes, including the No. 1-ranked group in 2006. On the court, Wynn coached seven All-Pac-10 performers, a conference freshman of the year and a WNBA draft pick.
Wynn entered the coaching ranks in 1996-97 as an assistant at Pepperdine where she helped the Waves to six postseason appearances, including three bids to the NCAA Tournament. In her eight seasons in Malibu, Pepperdine had six 20-win campaigns and captured four West Coast Conference championships.
Wynn earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise science from USC in 1996 and attained a master’s in education from Pepperdine in 2000.
Photo Courtesy Washington Athletics
http://www.gohuskies.com/news/2017/4/14/wynn-named-washington-head-womens-basketball-coach.aspx
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