Rod Jensen completed his second season on the bench as an assistant coach for the Washington State women’s basketball team. He joined the women's staff in 2015 after 30-years coaching on the men's side.
Known as a defensive-minded coach, Jensen brought with him years of coaching experience at all levels around the country. Despite injuries taking three starters from the Cougs in 2016-17, Jensen was able to keep the defense intact. For the second-straight season, the Cougars broke the school record in blocks with 152, smashing the mark of 120 set the season prior. He oversaw the continued development of redshirt-sophomore Nike McClure who set the single-season record for rejections with 68 including posting a record 12 blocks against Colorado in the season-finale on Feb. 25. Additionally, the Cougs proved themselves nationally as WSU finished eighth in steals (375) and 35th in turnovers forced per game (19.14) among all NCAA Division I teams. Jensen's leadership allowed junior Caila Hailey to continue to blossom as she was named to the All-Pac-12 Defensive Team First Team after earning honorable mention honors the year prior.
In his first season in collegiate women’s basketball, Jensen’s defensive mind was quickly identified as an early threat in the Pac-12 Conference. The Cougars broke the then WSU school record for blocks with 120 total rejections in 2015-16. Jensen oversaw redshirt-freshman Nike McClure and true freshman Maria Kostourkova climb into the top 5 in WSU freshman history with 25 and 23 blocks, respectively. Washington State finished the season as the Pac-12 leader in steals, averaging 10.2 per game (20th-best in the country). The Cougars also finished in the top half of the conference in blocked shots (sixth) and turnover margin (fourth).
Jensen made his return to Pullman after a one-year stint with the WSU men’s basketball team under former-head coach Ken Bone in 2013-14. Jensen originally came to WSU in June of 2013 as the director of player development and was promoted to assistant coach three months later in September. He stepped away from coaching during the 2014-15 season to spend time with his family.
Prior to arriving at Washington State, Jensen served as head coach at the College of Idaho from 2010-2013. In his final season with the Coyotes, Jensen led C of I to its first winning season in four years (15-14), its first home playoff game since 2007 and earned the program’s first win over a No. 1-ranked team, an 83-82 victory at Eastern Oregon in February of 2013.
Jensen has earned notoriety as a defensive coach, especially during his 19 years as a coach at Boise State University. From 1983-95, he was the top assistant to head coach, Bobby Dye, helping the Broncos rank among the top 15 in the NCAA Division I in scoring defense for four-straight seasons, winning Big Sky regular-season championships in 1988 and 1989, along with Big Sky Tournament titles in 1988, 1993, and 1994. BSU teams advanced to the National Invitational Tournament in 1987 and 1991, and the NCAA Tournament in 1988, 1993, and 1994.
In 1995, Jensen became the head coach at Boise State, compiling a 109-93 overall record in seven seasons at the helm while recording the third-most wins in BSU history. During his tenure, the Broncos ranked among the NCAA top 25 in scoring defense in 1998 and 1999, winning the 1999 Big West East Division Championship.
Jensen headed east in 2002, becoming an assistant coach for Pete Gillen at the University of Virginia, where he helped the Cavaliers to NIT appearances in 2003 and 2004, leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in defensive field goal percentage. In 2005, he moved to UNC Greensboro, working for Mike Dement, where during his tenure, every player who exhausted their eligibility, graduated. He spent five years at UNCG, his final four as associate head coach.
A 1975 graduate of the University of Redlands in California, Jensen began his coaching career at his alma mater in 1980, serving as an assistant for two years, before spending one season at Penn State. Jensen and his wife Brenda have four grown children; daughters Kate, Emily and Nicole, and son Tucker.
