Former Palomar women’s basketball coach to start program at CSUSM
By Michael Rawson
Photo by Aaron Jaffe
When some people talk about passion, it might seem like a cliché or a buzzword.
When Sheri Jennum talks about passion, you can feel it.
Jennum, the new women’s basketball coach, gestures emphatically, explaining how much she loves her well-lit office, how excited she is to be on the CSUSM campus, and why she has been so successful in other positions. “When it comes to [basketball], I am extremely competitive…it’s about having passion.”
When you look at her story, you understand. Jennum has never been anything but a winner. She’s a member of the Napa High School hall of fame, once leading Napa High to a Bay Valley Conference championship. At Fullerton College, she was the Most Valuable Player of the Southern California Tournament after an undefeated season. After transferring to Cal Poly Pomona, she lead the 1985 team to an NCAA Division II championship, earning all-tournament team honors.
Her coaching history is no different. She enjoyed success at several assistant and head coaching jobs at various levels before leaving the sport in 2000 to become a lawyer.
But the taste for money and security only lasts for so long when you love the game like Jennum. In 2004, she accepted an assistant job at her Community College Alma Mater, Fullerton. A year later she moved on to an assistant job across town from CSUSM at Palomar College, where she became the head coach full-time in 2007. Over the last three years, her teams compiled a record of 74-18, with an astonishing record in the Pacific Coast Conference of 40-2.
It is no wonder the administration chose Jennum to lead the Lady Cougars. Jennum said the feeling was mutual. “I’ve had my eye on the [CSUSM athletic] program for a long time,” she said, “and it was exciting when the soccer, softball and baseball teams got started.” When it’s built, the new CSUSM basketball and volleyball arena will be visible from Jennum’s office window. But as she gazes at the spot, she notes that it probably won’t be built for “as we understand it at least a year, if not two.”
When asked about the possibility of the Cougars playing home games in the Dome at Palomar College, Jennum almost seems to have not considered the significance of coaching at her old stomping grounds.
““There’s some talk about that, about a couple other sites. My main focus is on day to day use, on practice sites…but if [Palomar] will have us, I’m more than happy to play anywhere.”
Once the first season begins in 2011, will the women’s team play any games on the same night as the men, as is traditional in established programs? Jennum isn’t sure.
“It’s tough to schedule doubleheaders as an independent. [The Cougars will compete as an NAIA independent in 2011.] Teams don’t want to play you in January or February, because they don’t want to play outside their conference. And it’s difficult without a home site. But I have been talking with [Men’s coach] Jim [Saia] about it, and we’d like to. I know it’s exciting for the fans.”
Jennum mentions her focus on graduation with academic success and community service. She also knows Cougar fans expect winning. There’s plenty of pressure, and she’s fine with it. She recites a quote by tennis legend Billy Jean King: “Pressure is privilege.”
“I believe that.” she said with a nod. “Because when you are under pressure, you’ve put yourself in a situation where you can win…our first year, we’re going for a championship.”