Rosary names Wilcox new coach
Jessie Wilcox learned at a young age she wanted to be a high school basketball coach. Rosary has given her that opportunity.
Rosary announced Thursday that the 25-year-old Wilcox is its new girls basketball coach replacing Dave Beebe who was let go after coaching the Royals the past 17 seasons, the last 12 as varsity coach.
Wilcox was just 8 when Beebe started at Rosary. She was already developing her basketball skills on her path to becoming one of the best high school players in Wisconsin.
Playing for the Division I state powerhouse Oshkosh West High School, the four-time varsity letter-winner led her teams to back-to-back Wisconsin state championships in 2003 and 2004, three Final Four showings, and four Elite Eight appearances.
Wilcox earned a Division I scholarship to Northern Illinois and played point guard for the Huskies for four years.
It was following her senior year in high school that Wilcox first got the coaching bug. Her high school coach left the school and before they could find a replacement, the just-graduated Wilcox filled in all the coaching duties before heading off to college.
“It really hit me then I wanted to coach,” Wilcox said. “For that summer we didn’t have a head coach, we still had basketball camps, and the athletic director asked me if I would fill and run the basketball camps. I hadn’t had any coaching experience, I was thrilled, I took it on. Right after those camps, that’s when I feel in love with the coaching aspect. The challenge you get as a coach, the mental strategies and how you prepare kids. It really engaged me. From that minute on that got me and I knew I wanted to coach.”
Wilcox has been coaching since finishing her collegiate career with 1,007 points in four years with the Huskies. The 2009 All-Mid American All-Conference selection also earned academic honors for her 3.89 GPA.
Upon graduation Wilcox relocated to Colorado for a year and coached the Lady Survivors, a high school AAU program out of Denver, in which three of her seniors went on to play Division I basketball.
Since 2010, Wilcox has been the assistant women’s basketball coach and head women’s golf coach at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, an NCAA Division III school.
“Throughout my basketball career and up to later in my playing career I knew I wanted to coach,” Wilcox said. “My dream was to coach at the high school level and the community aspect it brings. I heard about the (Rosary) position and I jumped on it right away.
“We have had good times and success (at Wiconsin-Oshkosh) but I wanted to get back down to the high school level and back to the northern Illinois area.”
In a statement, Rosary Athletic Director Mary Lou Kunold said: “With Jessie’s playing and coaching accomplishments we believe she will make a great addition to our athletic staff and will bring a wealth of basketball experience into our program.”
Born and raised in Oshkosh and calling herself “a Wisconsin girl at heart,” Wilcox knows the importance of a family atmosphere. She said her parents made the three-hour drive from Oshkosh to DeKalb no matter the winter weather didn’t miss a home game in her four years at NIU.
Wilcox helped coach the DeKalb High School girls team while in college and learned about some of the high school programs she’ll face at Rosary. She is going to flip-flop her roles from the past two years and be the assistant golf coach at Rosary in addition to her basketball job. An art education major, Wilcox is looking for a full-time teaching position and if she can’t find one she said she’ll be a permanent substitute at Rosary.
The Royals are coming off a 9-18 season, a rare losing record for a team normally among the best in the Suburban Christian Conference.
“I like the fast-paced offensive game, I like to take advantage of the (other) team when they are on their heels,” Wilcox said. “Defensively we are the up-in-the-shorts philosophy, man and putting pressure on getting the offensive team out of what they want to run.”
In high school Wilcox set many records including a single-season school mark for assists (83) and steals (48). She ranks fourth in career scoring with 913 points, and she was named second team Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association All-State as a senior.