March 19, 2011

By Mark Honbo
Athletics Media Relations

When the 2010-11 UC Davis women's basketball season comes to a close, retiring mentor Sandy Simpson will not only hand over the head coach's clipboard to successor Jennifer Gross, he will pass along the traditions and the philosophy that has fueled success in Aggie athletics for generations.

Gross starred for Simpson and previous head coach Jorja Hoehn in the late 1990s, helping UC Davis to a 29-3 record and a third-place finish at the 1997 national tournament despite playing on a relative inexperienced roster.

"People forget that of the 13 players, nine were in their first year in the program. They were freshman or they were transfers," said Simpson. "That team, based on experience, probably had no business achieving what they did. Jen demonstrated back then that she had the ability to raise the game of those around her."

Move ahead to 2004. UC Davis had just completed its first year of a four-year reclassification period from NCAA Division II to Division I membership. Gross had embarked on her own coaching career, first at her high school alma mater of University City High School then as an assistant at San Diego State.

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