UT’s Spear Chosen For WBCA’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” Class
UT Sports

UT’s Spear Chosen For WBCA’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” Class

Posted on January 15, 2025

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association has announced its class for the 22nd “So You Want To Be A Coach” program, and Tennessee’s Jewel Spear is among those selected to participate.

Each student-athlete will take part in the two-day workshop on April 3 and 4 during the WBCA Convention at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa.

The “So” program increases the understanding and application of skills necessary to secure coaching positions in women’s basketball, increases the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for success in coaching, introduces female basketball players to coaches and administrators, and raises awareness of the existing talent pool of female basketball players who have a passion and interest in coaching the game of women’s basketball.

“The WBCA community of coaches each year invests in young, aspiring coaches through the ‘So You Want To Be A Coach’ program,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “We have high expectations for these graduating student-athletes and the future contributions they will make to the game of women’s basketball.”

Spear, a fifth-year guard from The Colony, Texas, is in her second season with the Lady Vol program, averaging 13.2 ppg. and hitting 110 three-pointers over 47 games played from 2023 to present. The 5-foot-10 long-distance ace was named to the 2024-25 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award Preseason Watch List. 

In 14 games this season, Spear is putting up 13.4 ppg., including 19.8 ppg. in SEC play to rank No. 8 among all league players. Through four conference games, she is 18 of 31 from beyond the arc to rank No. 1 in threes made and in percentage at 58.1. She is second in the SEC in treys made per contest at 2.93 in all games this season.

Spear has scored in double figures nine times in 2024-25, including five of the past six games. She has hit for 20+ in three SEC games thus far, carding a season-high 20 points at Texas A&M (7-11 FG, 6-8 3FG) and raising the bar vs. Oklahoma with 28 points (11-17 FG, 6-11 3FG), tallying 11 points in the fourth quarter vs. the Sooners to nearly help her team pull off the upset. She followed that with 25 points vs. LSU, nailing seven of 11 field goal attempts, including five of seven from beyond the arc.

In her last game, Spear reached 2,000 career points (2,005) and increased her rebound total to 484, needing 16 to reach the 500-board mark. The 69 threes that Spear hit last season at Tennessee tied for 10th in school history, and her 185 attempts tied for eighth.

Spear was a member of the 2023-24 SEC Academic Honor Roll and the 2024-25 VOLeaders Academy cohort. She also participated in the Tennessee-Rwanda Leadership Experience, traveling to the African nation in the summer of 2024, and was in Dallas in July 2024 as a member of the SEC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and Women’s Basketball Leadership Council.

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UT’s Spear Chosen For WBCA’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” Class
UT Sports

UT’s Spear Chosen For WBCA’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” Class

Posted on January 15, 2025 by rcadle • 0 Comments

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association has announced its class for the 22nd “So You Want To Be A Coach” program, and Tennessee’s Jewel Spear is among those selected to participate.

Each student-athlete will take part in the two-day workshop on April 3 and 4 during the WBCA Convention at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa.

The “So” program increases the understanding and application of skills necessary to secure coaching positions in women’s basketball, increases the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for success in coaching, introduces female basketball players to coaches and administrators, and raises awareness of the existing talent pool of female basketball players who have a passion and interest in coaching the game of women’s basketball.

“The WBCA community of coaches each year invests in young, aspiring coaches through the ‘So You Want To Be A Coach’ program,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “We have high expectations for these graduating student-athletes and the future contributions they will make to the game of women’s basketball.”

Spear, a fifth-year guard from The Colony, Texas, is in her second season with the Lady Vol program, averaging 13.2 ppg. and hitting 110 three-pointers over 47 games played from 2023 to present. The 5-foot-10 long-distance ace was named to the 2024-25 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award Preseason Watch List. 

In 14 games this season, Spear is putting up 13.4 ppg., including 19.8 ppg. in SEC play to rank No. 8 among all league players. Through four conference games, she is 18 of 31 from beyond the arc to rank No. 1 in threes made and in percentage at 58.1. She is second in the SEC in treys made per contest at 2.93 in all games this season.

Spear has scored in double figures nine times in 2024-25, including five of the past six games. She has hit for 20+ in three SEC games thus far, carding a season-high 20 points at Texas A&M (7-11 FG, 6-8 3FG) and raising the bar vs. Oklahoma with 28 points (11-17 FG, 6-11 3FG), tallying 11 points in the fourth quarter vs. the Sooners to nearly help her team pull off the upset. She followed that with 25 points vs. LSU, nailing seven of 11 field goal attempts, including five of seven from beyond the arc.

In her last game, Spear reached 2,000 career points (2,005) and increased her rebound total to 484, needing 16 to reach the 500-board mark. The 69 threes that Spear hit last season at Tennessee tied for 10th in school history, and her 185 attempts tied for eighth.

Spear was a member of the 2023-24 SEC Academic Honor Roll and the 2024-25 VOLeaders Academy cohort. She also participated in the Tennessee-Rwanda Leadership Experience, traveling to the African nation in the summer of 2024, and was in Dallas in July 2024 as a member of the SEC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and Women’s Basketball Leadership Council.