Tamika Williams-Jeter (born Tamika Maria Williams; April 12, 1980) is the head women's basketball coach at the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

. She was a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

and the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

in the WNBA.

High school

Born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, Williams-Jeter started playing organized basketball at age 10 in the Dayton Lady Hoopstars AAU program, played on Lady Hoopstar teams which won one national AAU age group championship and finished in top four twice. Williams-Jeter had a stellar basketball career at Chaminade-Julienne, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

high school in

. She was named the 1997 and 1998

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Player of the Year and was named in the 1997-98 ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' girls Division I All-Ohio

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

basketball team. She was named "Ohio's Miss Basketball" by the ''Associated Press'' and chosen by a statewide media panel. Williams-Jeter was also named a WBCA All-American and the WBCA high school player of the year. Williams-Jeter participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored eight points. After graduating from Chaminade-Julienne, Williams-Jeter was heavily recruited by numerous collegiate teams. In 1997, she was the subject of a seven-page feature in a January 1998 issue of a ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' magazine article on the pressures of being recruited. Ohio State arranged for a private jet to fly Williams-Jeter from her home in Dayton to Columbus, approximately 70 miles away. She mentioned this to UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who responded by mailing her a little wooden plane, explaining, "Sorry, Tamika. This is the best we can do."

College

Williams-Jeter attended the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

, majored in interpersonal communications, and served as President of UConn's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. From 1998 to 2002 she was part of the UConn basketball team, which became NCAA Division I National Championship teams in 2000 and 2002 under coach

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. , he has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference sea ...

. She completed her four-year collegiate career in 2002 with averages of 10.6 points per game and 5.8

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

per game. She finished as UConn's all-time leader in field goal percentage at 70.3% (560-for-797), which is also an NCAA Division 1 record. She also holds the Huskies' top four single-season marks for field goal percentage, ranked 14th on UConn's all-time scoring list with 1,402 points, and finished 10th all-time in rebounding (763). She was one of four players (along with

Asjha Jones Asjha Takera Jones (born August 1, 1980) is a former American professional women's basketball power forward and coach who is now on the staff of the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2019, she became the fir ...

Swin Cash Swintayla Marie "Swin" Cash Canal (born September 22, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played professionally for 15 seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently serves as vice preside ...

, and

Sue Bird Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association ( WNBA) Bird was drafted by the Storm first over ...

) called by Sports Illustrated "best recruiting class of 1998". In recent years, she has been spending the WNBA off-season working on getting a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in sports management at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Professional career

During the

2002 WNBA Draft The 2002 WNBA draft was the first to implement a lottery that arranges the order of the first four overall picks. The lottery gave four teams with the identically worst record of 10–22 from the 2001 season an equal chance to own the first o ...

, the

selected Williams-Jeter in the first round, sixth overall. In 2003, she set a WNBA single-season record for field-goal accuracy, with a percentage of 66.8%. On March 14, 2008, Williams-Jeter was traded to the

in exchange for

Kristen Rasmussen Kristen Rasmussen (born November 1, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player in the WNBA, also playing for CSS LMK BC Sepsi of Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania. Born in Lansing, Michigan, Rasmussen attended college at Michigan Stat ...

Coaching career

Williams-Jeter served as an assistant coach at the University of Kansas for their women's basketball team. Williams-Jeter served as the head coach for the Senior National team of India at the Asian Games held in Guangzhou (China). The games were played in November 2010. Williams-Jeter joined Matthew Mitchell's Kentucky staff as an assistant coach in August 2014.

Head coach

Wittenberg

In May 2021, Williams-Jeter became head basketball coach at Wittenberg University. In her first year as the head coach of the Tigers, Wittenberg knocked out #10 DePaw out of the NCAC Tournament on February 25, 2022, advancing to the title game.

Dayton

On March 26, 2022, Williams-Jeter was announced as the head coach of the University of Dayton Flyers.

Awards

* WBCA high school player of the year(1998) * Ohio Miss Basketball (1998) awarded by Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association * 2008 Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award, awarded annually to a WNBA player who best exhibits the characteristics of a leader in the community. * 2013 Inductee of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame

UConn statistics

Notes

References

External links

WNBA Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Tamika 1980 births Living people African-American basketball players American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Dayton, Ohio Connecticut Sun players Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball coaches Minnesota Lynx draft picks Minnesota Lynx players Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball coaches Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Penn State Lady Lions basketball coaches Power forwards (basketball) UConn Huskies women's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women