Fresh new look: Jamea Jackson takes helm at ASU women’s tennis, aims to smash expectations

Jamea Jackson takes over as head coach of Arizona State women’s tennis, ushering in a new era as the program transitions to the Big 12 conference. (Photo courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)

PHOENIX – As the dust settles from the Arizona State women’s tennis team 36th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, a new chapter unfolds for the program. Jamea Jackson ushers in a new era following the retirement of coaching legend Sheila McInerney.

The former WTA Tour player-turned-coach is poised to strengthen the Sun Devils’ winning culture, defined by four decades of success with McInerney at the helm. The transition marks only the third changing of the guard for ASU women’s tennis since 1954. As Jackson settles into her new role with big shoes to fill, she brings an appetite to take the Sun Devils to new heights in their Big 12 debut.

“Not often does a place like ASU open up; it’s rare that you even get a sniff at an opportunity like this,” Jackson said while reflecting on her first month as head coach. “And so, everyone that I’ve talked to, be that the girls on the team, be that the people in athletics, be that the student-athlete helpers, everyone’s been so phenomenal, and I’m getting to see firsthand what I already kind of knew way off way across the country.”

McInerney led the Sun Devils to 37 of 38 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, 574 wins and finished in the top 40 nationally. Among the highlights of her career, Arizona State had 49 All-America honors, 100 and more wins over ranked teams since 2008 and 38 players placed in the top 50 single players in final rankings.

“How amazing that people are at this university and institution,” Jackson, 37, said. “I’m excited to be a part of all that going forward.”

When ASU athletic director Graham Rossini announced Jackson’s appointment on June 4, he explained the process of hiring the 2024 Ivy League Coach of the Year winner based on her experience in the sport.

“When you look for coaches to play the sport at the highest level, she has a really interesting journey,” Rossini said of Jackson. “She went professional at 16, she’s competed against a lot of the women that are now at the top of their game of professional tennis and on the Netflix series (“Break Point,” which follows some of the world’s top tennis players). She’s like, ‘Oh, I know (that player). I beat her at the French Open or competed against her at Wimbledon.’ And she just has incredible tennis experience at a young age.”

Prior to coaching, Jackson played for the Women’s Tennis Association for six years, ranking as high No. 43 in 2006.

After Jackson retired from the WTA in 2009, she had various coaching stints in college, serving as an assistant coach for Oklahoma State University for four years and as a national coach for nine years with the United States Tennis Association.

Jackson recently served as head coach of Princeton women’s tennis for two seasons, where she earned the 2024 Ivy League Coach of the Year award. This past season, she led the Tigers to a 33-14 (13-1 Ivy League) record and coached five all-Ivy selections.

As the Sun Devils leave behind the Pac-12 and embark on the program’s first season in the Big 12 Conference, Jackson expressed high expectations of what she intends to bring to ASU’s stellar tennis program in the upcoming season as she aims to build off McInerney’s legacy.

“I’m learning each and every day from all the situations and the players,” Jackson said. “A couple of lessons that I’ve learned from my coaching situations because you have to be in the situation to pull from what you know. That’s incredibly broad when I try to take a step back from it, but I hope to remain the same where I continue to learn lessons from the kids around me from the situations. I want the kids I bring in to have a growth mindset and have to model that for sure.”

Jackson believes that finding the right balance of players and building a culture could be key to the Sun Devils’ success for years to come. She recently announced the signing of Karsyn Evans, who transferred from the University of Denver after being part of the team that won the Summit League and advanced to the NCAA Tournament this past season.

“It varies,” Jackson said of the international recruiting process. “It’s continuing to vary as the rules continue to change. But the bottom line is you have eight spots to fill on your roster, and you decide how many of those you want to fill. There is a situation where you can sit on a scholarship at times, or you could have all eight constantly, but it’s a rotating every four years sort of cycle unless we go into the portal, and that can change at the drop of a hat.

“There are eight spots to fill. There are six singles players and three doubles teams. And so you want to try and find the best combination of players from a tennis perspective. And from a personality, character, culture perspective, make your team the most successful it can be.”

The Sun Devils are coming off a 15-10 record, having fallen to Pepperdine in the NCAA Regionals.

Five players are returning to represent the Sun Devils for the upcoming season, including senior Patricija Spaka and junior Chelsea Fontenel, who last season were ranked No. 31 in the NCAA Doubles Championship tournament before falling to No. 4 Stanford.

With a strong returning lineup, Jackson is optimistic about laying the foundation for the Sun Devils women’s tennis program for years to come.

“It’s been an extremely successful team for years,” Jackson said. “We’re in a situation where I need to find a few players and coming in when I did, the portal was closed, so I think it’s great that I can build my team from the get-go. But I also think that it’s going to be a year where we are laying the foundation for the future. That is the goal for everything (that is) going to happen step by step.”