She’s still one of the youngest head coach in the country, coaching one of the country’s younger teams, one that features just two seniors and 11 freshmen and sophomores.
At the age of 33, Jennifer Graf is the ideal person for that scenario. Beginning her eighth season in charge, she enters her 15th year in the Lady Demon basketball family.
This is home to her. It is family. Since she headed four hours north from her parents’ home in Loranger, a half-hour east of Baton Rouge, to begin her freshman season as a Lady Demon in August, 1996, Graf has immersed herself in Natchitoches, at Northwestern State and most of all, in the Lady Demon basketball program.
Her dad, Glen, a contractor, built a house for her in Natchitoches during her playing days. She still lives there. Already she was committed to working as a graduate assistant coach while earning her master’s in sports administration. Jennifer had hopes that then-assistant coach Wendy Schuller might get a head coaching position and that their mentor, longtime Lady Demon head coach James Smith, would tap her to replace Schuller.
After all, it was during Smith and Schuller’s home visit to the Graf residence outside Loranger that Jennifer tipped her hand. Coach Smith asked about Graf’s academic interests and if she had any career plans yet. Without hesitation, she said she wanted to be a college basketball coach. Smith chuckled, looked over at his loyal assistant Schuller, and said, “Wendy, you better watch out, sounds like she’s coming after your job!”
“No,” said Graf, laughing, “Coach Smith, I’m coming after yours!”
Who knew? She wasn’t scheming, just dreaming. But believing. And without even trying, she gradually collected believers. Let’s just say that by the time her playing days ended, it was a possibility that had occurred to Smith and others close to the program. That’s just how mature Graf was, with a presence far past her years. It’s a cool, playful confidence, without a trace of arrogance, relying on unyielding faith and a burning passion to achieve excellence.
Before her junior season as a player, Graf began teaching a Catechism class (bible studies for Catholic youth) at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. This is the ninth year she’ll carve out time on Wednesday nights in midseason to serve her church family.
Born June 11, 1978 in Covington, Graf began her first season as the youngest head coach in Division I, following the footsteps of such legendary coaches like Pat Summitt (22 years old when hired at Tennessee), Jody Conradt (28 years old at Sam Houston State), Bobby Knight (25 years old at Army) and Mike Krzyzewski (28 years old at Army) as coaches who got their first head coaching job at an early age.
When Coach Smith stepped to the podium on Sept. 1, 2004, to announce his retirement, it marked the end of an apprenticeship for Graf, whom he had groomed as his successor for much of the two previous seasons, the final one ending with Southland Conference regular-season and tournament championships and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
NSU had an 86-32 record in her four seasons as an assistant coach, including a 63-15 mark in Southland Conference play. In her four seasons (1996-2000) as a guard for Coach Smith, the Lady Demons were 64-39. In her last nine seasons with the program, NSU has six years of 22 or more victories.
She and former assistant coach Kia Converse are the only Lady Demon basketball players to win Southland Conference championship rings as a player and as a coach.
Her energetic, enthusiastic and positive approach is contagious. If you’re not smiling when you arrive in the Lady Demon basketball office, you soon will be.
As an assistant coach, Graf had a wide range of responsibilities, both coaching and administrative, along with serving as recruiting coordinator. She handled the scouting reports and set the defensive schemes for each game. Her defensive strategy was cited by Texas-Arlington coach Donna Capps as well as Coach Smith as a pivotal factor in the 2004 SLC Tournament championship game when the Lady Demons held UTA to 28 percent shooting.
In her first year as head coach, she had to grow a point guard thanks to the graduation of all-time great Cooda Dobin, now an assistant coach on Graf’s staff. Shooting guard Sheronda Bell was put in place, and by year’s end, she ranked among the nation’s leaders in assists and was atop the SLC rankings. Graf guided her team, which struggled mightily in December and early January, into playing its best in the SLC stretch run, when the Lady Demons posted 10 wins in 11 games to secure a third-place regular-season finish. They wound up 17-12 and reached the SLC Tournament semifinals.
Her second and third seasons were part of a rebuilding campaign with a slew of newcomers. Three years ago, the squad improved dramatically with a .500 record and a fifth place finish in the league standings, and two years ago, her team topped that with 18 wins - the most in a season in her short career.
Her approach to her job mirrors her “gym rat” mentality that turned heads prior to her senior season. Graf finished her junior year making only 1 of her last 28 shots, but her defense, rebounding, intelligent and unselfish play kept her in the lineup down the stretch as the Lady Demons won the 1999 SLC title with a 22-7 record. She virtually took up residence in Prather Coliseum in the spring and summer before her senior year, honing her game with intense shooting drills and workouts. The payoff: a 24-6 record in her senior year, honorable mention All-SLC honors with a 10.4 scoring average and the second-best single-season free throw percentage (84.7) in Lady Demon history.
Graf played in 110 games for Northwestern State, winning 74, starting 48 times, including all 30 games in her senior year when she raised her free throw percentage 22 points above her career average. She was a three-time Academic All-SLC selection and won the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ “Lady Demon of the Year” award as a senior.
She led Loranger High School to the Louisiana Class 2A championship, the school’s first state title, in her senior season, earning state Class 2A Most Valuable Player honors and sharing the overall Sweet 16 state tournament MVP award.
Although Natchitoches is home, a big part of her heart remains in Loranger, where her parents, Glen and Debbie, still reside. She stays in constant contact with her mom and her dearest friend, former Lady Demon manager Jennifer Orsi Harrelson, an elementary school teacher and mother to Graf’s godchild, Aidan Kate, and sons, Dominic Matthew, Ryan Joshua, and Cole Michael.
She’s also “Aunt Jen” to her niece Kaitlyn and nephews, Jonathan, Christopher, and Gabriel, children of her older brother Michael, a hydraulic engineer living in Pennsylvania, and her sister-in-law, Linnaya.
The stereo in her office is usually tuned to contemporary Christian and Rockin’ 80s among her favorites. She enjoys spring and summer off-road adventures in her Jeep, in between working camps, jet skiing on Sibley Lake and keeping in touch with friends and former teammates near and far.
Only a few days at a time usually pass without her visiting with Coach Smith, and not a day goes by that she doesn’t remind her young team about the rich tradition and family values at the core of Lady Demon basketball -- a legacy that she’s sure to enhance in the seasons ahead.
