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The Coaches |
 Tom Jessee - Head Coach/Camp Director
Tom Jessee is in his eighth season as head coach for The University of Tampa women's basketball program. Jessee has guided his team to four straight NCAA tournament appearances, marking the first time in program history that the Spartans have appeared in four consecutive national tournaments. Jessee has 16 years under his belt as a collegiate head coach, with nine of those seasons spent at his alma mater Bluefield State (W.V.) University, where he compiled a 170-89 mark. He earned his 300th career victory on the Tampa bench when the Spartans defeated Palm Beach Atlantic by a 59-52 margin in 2008. In all, Jessee is now 318-153 (.675) in the college ranks. His .675 winning percentage ranks 22nd among active coaches and 34th all-time nationally. His 318 wins are good for 32nd on the active coaches list. At UT, Jessee has led the Spartans to five of the program's seven NCAA tournaments and three Sunshine State Conference tournament championships. His 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 squads all received bids to the NCAA tourney, and all but one of UT’s SSC tournament crowns have been during the Jessee era, coming in 2006, 2007 and 2009. His 148-64 record at Tampa gives him the program's top overall winning percentage at .698. He was also the fastest coach in UT women's basketball history to 100 victories and led his 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 teams to four straight 20-plus win seasons for the first time in program history. First coach at the University of Tampa to post back to back 20+ wins seasons His success reached a pinnacle during the 2008-09 season when his team set a new program mark for wins in a season with 26. The squad captured a share of the regular season conference title and garnered the highest national ranking in team history – 19th. Jessee also led the team to a school-record 13 consecutive wins, three of which came as Tampa won the SSC tournament title. The team also secured the program’s second NCAA tournament victory. While at Bluefield State, his teams won four conference championships, two district titles, and advanced to the NAIA Sweet 16 in 1985-86 when he served as an assistant. He was voted district Coach of the Year in 1989, and his team placed either first or second in the WVIAC eight times in 12 seasons (nine as head coach, three as an assistant). During his career, Jessee has tutored and developed two NAIA All-Americans, three conference and district players of the year, 27 all-conference selections at Bluefield State, and the NCAA II national three-point shooting leader. On January 25, 2007, Jessee was chosen to the "25 at 25" squad by the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as one of the league's top five coaches of all time. The group of 20 players and five coaches was selected by a panel of coaches, administrators, players and media. Just prior to accepting the Tampa position, he coached
girl’s basketball at New Port Richey Gulf High School and was named
Tampa Tribune Pasco County Coach of the Year in 1998. In five years at
the high school level, he compiled a 75-67 record. He was also Pasco
County Coach of the Year in golf in 2001-02. |
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Nikki Jessee -
Assistant Coach/Asst. Camp Director
 Nikki Jessee is in her first season as an assistant coach at UT after previously serving as a collegiate head coach for the past five seasons. Last season, Jessee led Lynn University to a 16-12 record after successfully guiding the Fighting Knights to a 16-12 record and its first ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association national poll recognition in 2007-08. With an overall record of 32-24 at the helm of the Fighting Knights, Jessee was the first Lynn coach in 13 years to post consecutive winning seasons. Jessee joined the Fighting Knights after three successful years at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tenn., where she went 38-57. In her final year, her team opened the season with its best start in school history (13-2) and later established program records for wins in a season, highest national ranking (No. 27) and wins over top 25 teams (3 upset wins) while also picking up their first conference tournament win and advancing to the semi-finals for the first time. Overall she posted improvements of six games between her first and second years and seven games between her second and third seasons. Jessee’s teams also made huge strides academically as she helped boost the RedHawks’ team grade-point average above 3.0, significantly higher than the 2.02 team GPA before her arrival. Prior to her arrival at Martin Methodist College, Jessee coached at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tenn., where she was the recruiting coordinator from 2003-04. She spent two years (2000-02) at Campbell University, where she helped guide the Lady Camels to an Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship and runner-up finish at the A-Sun Tournament. Jessee was then named head coach at Lyman High in Orlando, Fla., where she remained for a one year stint before becoming the recruiting coordinator at Tusculum. Florida native, she began her coaching career in
Lakeland, Fla., where she helped guide George Jenkins High School to the
State Finals in the 1999-2000 season. |
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Phyllis Kessel - Assistant Coach/Asst. Camp Director
At UT, Kessel has helped guide the program to five NCAA tournaments, including the past four. She also became the first UT assistant coach to be a part of four consecutive NCAA national tourneys. A 2002 graduate of Charleston
University in physical education, Kessel was a four-year letterwinner in
basketball and served as team captain for one season. Basketball was
not her only sport in college as she was also a member of the crew team.
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