Sarah Jenkins was coaching high school basketball in Florida in 2013 when she was in the final two for what would have been her first college basketball coaching position.
Jenkins wasn’t hired.
When she phoned her father, the Rev. John K. Jenkins Sr., back home in Maryland, to tell him the sad news, she was inconsolable.
“She was devastated,” said Jenkins Sr., who could barely make out what his daughter was saying through her sobbing.
“One year later almost to the day,” he said, “Natasha [Adair] called her and said, ‘I got the Georgetown job, and I need you to come back to be one of my assistants.’”
That passion to coach college basketball paid long-range dividends Tuesday when Jenkins was introduced as the University of Delaware’s new women’s basketball coach at the Carpenter Center.
Among the delighted witnesses, along with UD players, staffers, fans and Jenkins’ family, was Adair, who was Delaware’s coach the last five seasons before being hired as Arizona State coach on March 27.
“For my former player to succeed me is everything that I could want. It’s a coach’s dream,” Adair said. “I’m just so proud of her.”
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Jenkins, whose hiring was announced Sunday, was on Adair’s staff for three years at Georgetown, where Jenkins was a standout guard when Adair was an assistant coach there, and came with her to Delaware in 2017, eventually becoming the Blue Hens’ associate head coach.
She left after Delaware’s 2020-21 Colonial Athletic Association regular-season championship/WNIT Final Four campaign to broaden her horizons on the coaching staff at Penn State this past season.
“This opportunity is a dream come true for her,” said the Rev. Jenkins, whose eyes glistened with tears as his daughter stood at the podium.
“She’s gonna give her whole heart to this.”
Being the oldest of six in her family born over 16 years, Jenkins said she’s always been comfortable in positions of leadership.
“She ran the house,” confessed Trina Jenkins, Sarah’s mother. “She was just always in charge, always the boss, determining what games would be played. Very competitive.”
Those characteristics will come in handy as Jenkins becomes just the fifth head coach in the 51-season history of Delaware women’s basketball, following Mary Ann Hitchens (1971-78); Joyce Perry (1978-1996); Tina Martin (1996-2017), now interim head coach at CAA rival UNC-Wilmington; and Adair.
“I’ve been the boss of everybody since I was born,” Jenkins said, referring to being the oldest of six, adding that mentoring and coaching “is my purpose, I know that is what I’m meant to do.”
Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak said interest in the position was “incredible” and more than 20 candidates were spoken with.
“As things played out,” Rawak said, “conversations happened, we circled around one name, one – Sarah Jenkins.”
In addition to recruiting and coaching two-time CAA Player of the Year Jasmine Dickey and others who sparked Delaware to its 2020-21 success, Jenkins was also credited with her contributions to Delaware winning the CAA Tournament title and making the NCAA Tournament this past season.
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“I’m very excited,” said Blue Hens guard Tyi Skinner. “It’s great to have her come back. We were really sad to see her go last year. She recruited everyone on the team. She built that team. So it’s great to see her come back so we can kinda keep it going.”
Jenkins attended the CAA championship game at Drexel on March 13, in which the Blue Hens avenged a pair of regular-season losses to beat the top-seeded Dragons 63-59.
“I felt like I was on ‘The Price is Right’ when they were calling my name to come down,” Jenkins said of Delaware players and staffers urging Jenkins to join them in their championship celebration.
It was a happy reminder of the bonds she made that couldn’t be broken by her departure and can now be strengthened by her return.
“I felt like it was my championship, too,” she said.
Jenkins, from Bowie, Maryland, was recruited to Georgetown by Adair and played there from 2002-05 after spending her first college year at Maryland. She then coached high school basketball for eight years in Florida but began to yearn for the more full-time basketball commitment that college coaching provides.
“In high school, you just get who shows up and you try to make the best out of what you have,” she said. “In college you have an opportunity to create the look that you want.”
Jenkins said she knew she was ready to be a head coach a couple years ago. Her move to Penn State before last season, she said, was to expand her knowledge base by coaching under Carolyn Kieger.
When Adair left, sentiment immediately focused on Jenkins as a potential successor because she’d recruited the players already on the team, had always played a key role in Delaware’s on-court tactics and had a personality one former staffer termed “infectious.”
“I’m just so grateful for the support and the love the community has shown toward me since I’ve been here, what they’ve shown to our program,” Jenkins said.
Now the responsibility of replenishing the roster and getting the most out of those on it falls to Jenkins, who, having billed herself “a born leader,” welcomes that challenge.
“I love people,” she said. “I love building relationships. That is who I am to the core of my being so it’s not even work to me. It’s just what I do.”
Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.
