Women's basketball coach settles in

By Margo Consul

Jennifer Mountain will be trading in the blue and red of Gonzaga for Bronco red and white. After seven seasons as the Bulldogs' assistant coach, Mountain became Santa Clara's eighth women's basketball head coach.

Mountain has high hopes for the Broncos in her debut season. Last year, the Broncos finished No. 2 in the West Coast Conference.

"It has been a whirlwind with a lot of stuff to do. I finally got my staff in here last week, and people have been so great. We've been so busy," Mountain said.

As Gonzaga's assistant coach, Mountain helped turn a team with a 2-12 WCC record in the 2001-2002 season into four-time regular season champions. Gonzaga compiled a 140-79 overall record and a league-high season record of 72-40 with Mountain on the coaching staff.

Mountain and the Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Tournament once and went to the Women's National Invitation Tournament twice.

In 2005, the team garnered its first national ranking after they won the WCC Championship.

Because Gonzaga is in the same conference as Santa Clara, Mountain said that her familiarity will help make the transition from being a rival assistant coach to the Broncos' head coach much easier.

"Obviously, I have way more responsibility on my shoulders," Mountain said. "I think the biggest change for me in the past three weeks has been getting my staff hired and getting all the pieces together."

With all but three players healthy enough to practice, Mountain has remained positive about the team's upcoming season.

"I think we will be pretty competitive," Mountain said. "I expect us to be in the top four (in the WCC). We have a great nucleus coming back."

The Broncos finished with a 20-11 record last season and went into the WCC Tournament as the No. 2 seed before falling to the eventual champions San Diego. They will be without seniors Jen Gottschalk, Chandice Cronk and Tracey Walker next season.

"I know we lost three important kids, but we've got a great nucleus coming back with some experience. They know how to win. They won 20 games," Mountain said.

Mountain is trying to build upon the success that Santa Clara has had in the past by adding new talent to the team.

"Right now we're trying to get another post player in here," Mountain said. "They have shot the ball really well, so we've got to get some post presence, so we are focusing on that recruiting-wise."

She added, "We have the two incoming freshmen that we had signed and we are right in the works of getting a (junior college) kid in here. I should know within the next day or so if she got into the school. We are crossing our fingers."

As part of her rebuilding efforts, Mountain wants the school to have the same feeling about the team as the team does about themselves. She wants to see more support for the women's basketball team.

Mountain hopes that with the projected improvement of the team, it will get the student body will get more excited about women's basketball.

"I think that the staff is going to do a good job," Mountain said.

"I just want people to embrace the program a little bit more. They are out in the community doing great things and they work really hard in and out of the classroom. I think they are great kids. I just want to get people in the stands."

Moutain expressed a desire for support from fans.

"What I really want from the Santa Clara community is to embrace this group. I think that the following in the past few years has dropped, I don't know exactly why," Mountain said.

"I think that it's a special group of girls. They stand for what's right and what the university is about, and I want to make sure that it gets out there."

Contact Margo Consul at (408) 551-1918 or mconsul@scu.edu.