“I cried like a baby,” Jeter-Williams said. “An ugly cry.”
Williams-Jeter left Wittenberg after one season to take a job in her hometown. She was introduced by UD at a press conference Monday at UD Arena, which is 2.1 miles from Chaminade Julienne. She’s a 1998 CJ graduate who scored 2,015 points in her high school career and then followed it up with a standout career at Connecticut.
Dayton announced the hiring of Jeter-Williams on Saturday, five days after Shauna Green left for the head coaching job at Illinois. UD Athletic Director Neil Sullivan said Williams-Jeter was on his list of potential hires when Green left. He said people assumed Williams-Jeter was the choice all along because the decision was made so fast.
“Without any disrespect her, it’s just not true,” Sullivan said. “We started off with a really open process. We were open to all types of candidates: head coaches; assistant coaches; former coaches. We really didn’t limit ourselves. Initially, we had done a lot of work, but we didn’t limit ourselves. After multiple phone calls, an initial phone call and a couple in-person meetings, I just want to be really clear that Tamika earned this job by who she is, the way she represented herself, the way she interviewed, the way people talked about her, her basketball acumen. It was the total package.”
Williams-Jeter called this a full-circle moment because she’s returning to Dayton. She grew up going to camps and games at UD Arena but had not entered the building in close to 15 years.
“This is just a place I never saw myself,” she said, “but thank God, somebody saw it. Now it’s time to go out and compete. I’m competitive. I’m ready to recruit. This is just an opportunity for the University of Dayton women’s basketball to restock, reload and fly. Thats’ where we’re going with this.”
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