Head Coach Jaime White has taken a transition team to a yearly contender in the Big Sky Conference. Now in her seventh year as the head coach at Northern Colorado, the Bears have been to two straight post-season appearances and with 11 players returning off last year’s 20-12 team, expectations are high for a third-straight trip past the Big Sky Tournament.

White started in 2006, the school’s first year in the Big Sky Conference after transitioning to Division I and struggled to a record of 5-24 overall and 2-14 in league play.

Now she has a championship caliber team that tied for the regular season in 2010-11 and played in the title game of the Big Sky Championship in 2011-12, advancing to the WNIT. Returning from that team is the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, D’shara Strange, as well as all-conference pick Lauren Oosdyke.

White’s teams have continually showed improvement, increasing their win total in each of the past four seasons. In 2008-09 the team was 12-18, while they were 14-16 in 2009-10, 17-14 in 2010-11 and 20-12 in 2011-12. Last year’s team was just the third in school history to have 20 wins, joining the 1997-98 and 1999-00 squads.

She begins the 2012-13 season tied for the wins record by a Northern Colorado women’s basketball head coach at 82. She’s knotted with Janet Schafer, who went 82-112 from 1985-91.

In her second season, 2007-08, White led the Bears to the Big Sky Tournament, in their first year of eligibility, with a fifth-place finish and a spot in the quarterfinals. NC posted an overall record of 14-16 and went 8-8 in conference action.

White’s third season at the helm of Northern Colorado women’s basketball was one of high-hopes and expectation, but was unfortunately marred by injury and inconsistent play.  White finished the season with a 12-18 record overall and a 5-11 Big Sky record, which earned them seventh place in the conference. After the season, White had Courtney Stoermer named to the All-Conference Second Team.

The 2009-10 season was again hit hard by the injury bug, but the team improved from the previous year with a record of 14-16 and a 6-10 Big Sky mark. Senior guard Whitley Cox was honored on the Big Sky All-Conference First Team, the first-ever first-team pick for the Bears in the league.

In addition to sharing the 2010-11 regular season title, the women’s basketball team advanced to its first-ever post-season play, taking part in the Women’s Basketball Invitational. The Bears had Oosdyke named to the Big Sky All-Conference First Team, Strange was named the league’s Freshman of the Year and Stoermer was named co-Defensive Player of the Year as well as getting a Second-Team All-Conference nod. The Bears were 17-14 overall, but heated up after the new year, finishing 12-4 in conference action.

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.