Jennifer Hoover is in her second season as head coach of the Demon Deacon program in 2013-14. She was named the school's 10th women's basketball coach in May of 2012. Hoover came to Wake Forest after one season as the head women's basketball coach at High Point.
Hoover returned to Wake Forest where she starred for the Demon Deacons from 1987-91. She was a three-time All-ACC selection and still holds the school's career records for points (1,728) and rebounds (1,006). Hoover was a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll and a member of the South team that won the bronze medal at the 1989 Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City, Okla. She also led the Deacs to their only NCAA Tournament appearance in 1988. Hoover was inducted to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.
The Deacons finished with a 13-19 record in Hoover's first season at the helm in 2012-13. The team won an ACC Tournament game for the fifth-straight season, the longest such streak in school-history. She also guided the Deacs to an 80-72 victory at No. 18/20 Florida State, marking the school's first victory on the road over a ranked team since 1996.
In her one season at High Point, Hoover guided the Panthers to a 20-13 record and just the school's second appearance in the WNIT. The 20 wins were tied for the most in a single season since High Point moved to Division I in 1999. Hoover was named the 2012 Spalding Maggie Dixon Division I Rookie Coach of the Year.
Hoover's assistant coaching career began in 1994 and includes stints at Cal, Virginia and Memphis. In three seasons as assistant at Cal, Hoover helped lead the Bears to a cumulative record of 69-36, its first-ever NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2009 and the 2010 Women's NIT Championship. Prior to Cal, Hoover was associate head coach at Memphis, helping the team to more wins in 2007-08 than the previous two seasons combined. She spent four seasons at the University of Virginia, the final two as recruiting coordinator.
A post player herself, Hoover has an impressive reputation for developing forwards at the highest level. Hoover was named one of the ACC's top-50 all-time players and is still the only Demon Deacon to surpass 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Among the post players Hoover coached at Cal were All-Americans Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton as well as All-Freshman selections DeNesha Stallworth and Gennifer Brandon.
At Cal, Hoover worked with all aspects of the program, including on-court coaching, recruiting and scouting and helped the Golden Bears to postseason appearances in all three of her seasons. She helped bring in back-to-back top 10 recruiting classes, including the No. 1 class in 2009.
Hoover went to Berkeley after spending the 2007-08 season as the associate head coach at Memphis and helped the Tigers make significant improvements in her one season.
After her first stint as an assistant coach at Memphis in 2002-03, Hoover spent four seasons at the University of Virginia and became the Cavaliers' recruiting coordinator for her final two years. She helped sign top-15 recruiting classes in 2005 and 2006 and helped the team to two 20-win seasons, an NCAA appearance and two WNIT berths. She helped Virginia ink junior college All-American center Aisha Mohammed and the 2006-07 ACC Rookie of the Year, Monica Wright. Wright also was a McDonald's All-American. While at Virginia, Hoover coached under Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan.
Hoover started her coaching career at the University of Missouri-Kansas City from 1994-96, then became an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth for two seasons (1996-98). She then spent two seasons at East Carolina (1998-00) before moving on to James Madison (2000-02), where she helped the Dukes to the WNIT Final Four.
Hoover then made her first stop at Memphis in 2002-03, where she recruited and coached the Lady Tigers' post players. She also oversaw academics and the mentor program until she left in August of 2003 to join Ryan's staff at Virginia.
Following her collegiate playing career (1987-91), Hoover played professionally overseas for the Solna IF Basketball Team in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1991-92. She played the 1993 season with Athletes in Action on the USA Fall Exhibition Tour and the Australian spring tour before starting her coaching career.
Hoover married her husband, John, in 2001 and the two have one daughter, Maggie.
The Jen Hoover File
Birthdate
October 12, 1969
Hometown
Roanoke, Va.
Alma Mater
Wake Forest, 1991
Degree
Communication
Husband
John
Children
daughter Maggie (7)
Playing Background
Wake Forest, 1987-91
Three-time All-ACC performer ... Holds the school's career scoring (1,728) and rebounding (1,006) records ... Was part of 70 wins in her career, which is the second-most in school-history ... Led the team to the school's only NCAA Tournament appearance.
