Jaime White
Posting the 11th best turnaround in Division I
play, the Northern Colorado women's basketball team made a name for
itself behind the direction of Jaime White and she hopes to
continue that turnaround into the 2008-09 season, her third at the
helm of the Bears.
In her first season as the head coach, White and
the majority of teams at Northern Colorado joined the Big Sky
Conference. The team posted a record of 5-24 and 2-14 in league
play.
One year later, she led the Bears to the Big Sky
postseason, in their first year of eligibility, with a fifth-place
finish and a spot in the quarterfinals of the tournament. NC posted
an overall record of 14-16 and went 8-8 in conference action.
En route to the Big Sky Tournament, White had
Jamie Schroeder named the Big Sky Newcomer of the Year, while
Danielle Hagen was named to the All-Conference Second Team.
White was named the 11th head coach in Northern
Colorado women's basketball history on April 13, 2006.
Prior to Northern Colorado, White spent three
years as an assistant coach at Wyoming to head coach Joe Legerski
and was the recruiting coordinator. In her first season with the
Cowgirls, they finished 11-18 and won their first Mountain West
Conference Tournament games in 12 years. The second season, they
improved to 16-12 and in 2005-06 the Cowgirls earned a WNIT bid
after finishing the regular season and Mountain West Tournament
with a 20-9 record. Wyoming won the first round contest against
Oregon State, 67-49 before falling to Nebraska in the second round.
White went to Wyoming from the University of
Utah, where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach for Elaine
Elliott. In 2001-02, White helped coach the Utes to a 15-12 record
and in 2002-03 they won a Mountain West Conference Championship and
an NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance. They lost 65-54 to
eventual Final Four team Duke and finished their season 24-7. The
Utes were the top-ranked scoring defense team in the nation,
allowing just 50.1 points per game in 2002-03.
Before Utah, White was the head coach at Snow
Junior College in Ephraim, Utah. In five years, she led the Badgers
to a 107-50 record and back-to-back Scenic West Athletic Conference
Championships in 1999-00 and 2000-01. In 2000, the Badgers finished
with a 27-6 record and a final ranking of 13. In 2001, Snow tallied
a 30-3 record and were ranked 12th in the final poll.
For her efforts, White was named the 2000 Scenic
West Coach of the Year, and the Snow College Coach of the Year.
Every year during her tenure at Snow, the Badger teams improved
their win total. In addition to the team's success on the court,
the Badgers were the Academic Team of the Year in 1999, 2000 and
2001.
A native of Kanab, Utah, White graduated from
Utah Valley Community College in 1989 where she played for coach
Tom Perkins. At Utah Valley, she was named a Kodak All-American
after she led her team to a final 16 appearance.
After Utah Valley, White continued her education at Kansas State
before completing her basketball career and education at Southern
Utah in 1994. White received her bachelor's degree in psychology
with a minor in physical education, in addition to a secondary
teaching certificate from Southern Utah. White also earned her
master's degree in instructional technology from Utah State.