Jon Newlee
Jon Newlee is the head women's basketball coach at the University of Idaho. He previously served for six years as the head women's basketball coach at Idaho State University.
Newlee was hired as the ninth head coach in University of Idaho women’s basketball history on April 15, 2008.
The 2009-10 season will mark Newlee's second year at Idaho, his 26th season as a collegiate coach and his 11th overall as a head coach. His career has seen stops at Saint Mary’s (CA), Southwestern JC, Texas-San Antonio, Southern Methodist, Hawai’i and, most recently, at Idaho State. Overall, teams he coached compiled a 447-272 (.622) record and teams on which he was the head coach compiled a 141-128 (.524) record. Teams he coached have qualified for post-season play in 13 of the last 17 seasons.
At Idaho
In just his first season at Idaho, Newlee led the Vandal women to their best season in Western Athletic Conference play, as the team went 13-15 overall and 10-6 in the WAC. In the three years of WAC play prior to Newlee's arrival, Idaho had a combined record of 11-37 and had never finished higher than seventh in the league standings. In 2009, Idaho went 10-6, swept eventual champion Fresno State during the regular season, earned the program's first win over Hawai`i, won back-to-back conference road games for the first time since joining the WAC, swept four WAC opponents and tied for third place in the conference. Newlee was the clear-cut choice for WAC Coach of the Year, as voted by the league's coaches, at the end of the season. It was the third such honor of his career, as he also earned Big Sky Coach of the Year in 2006 and co-Big Sky Coach of the Year in 2004.
Idaho's turnaround was significant on the national level, as well as the conference level. Idaho's final NCAA RPI ranking at the end of the 2008 season was 322 out of 328 schools. In 2009, the Vandals jumped 96 spots to 226 in the final ratings, which was tied as the 19th-largest RPI jump among NCAA teams. Idaho's 9.5-game improvement was the seventh-best in the NCAA in 2009.
What was even more impressive about Newlee's first-year success was that he did it with a rotation of just six players, and with a team that only had one true post player. Despite the slim roster, there were still plenty of honors to go around. Yinka Olorunnife earned Second-Team All-WAC and WAC All-Defensive Team mention, Derisa Taleni earned WAC Newcomer of the Year and Second-Team All-WAC honors and Shaena-Lyn Kuehu was voted to the WAC All-Freshman Team. Newlee's team was one of the most disciplined in the NCAA, as the Vandals led the WAC and ranked 15th in the NCAA with just 14.1 personal fouls per game, and ranked 90th out of 328 schools in turnovers per game. The Vandals also played a feisty brand of defense and came within 0.8 of breaking Idaho's 19-year-old scoring defense record with a 59.5 defensive scoring average.[1]
On January 1, 2015, Jon Newlee’s return to Pocatello was spoiled by Idaho State. His Vandals lost to Idaho State, his former team, 71-50.
At Idaho State
Newlee’s six-year tenure at Idaho State was marked with success, then more success. Prior to his arrival, Idaho State never had been invited to the Women’s NIT. He took the Bengals there three times in six seasons. He also became the second coach in Idaho State history to earn a Big Sky Coach of the Year award and he is the only one to win it multiple times. He recruited and coached All-Americans, All-Big Sky performers and school and conference record-holders. Newlee produced two of the three 20-win seasons in Idaho State history and four of the team’s five total post-season berths.
In just his second season at Idaho State in 2004, Newlee led the Bengals to a 20-9 record—a 14-win improvement over his first season—and a second-place finish in the Big Sky. After ISU lost to Montana in the Big Sky title game, the team earned an invitation to compete in the Women’s NIT for the first time in school history. After getting one taste of the postseason, the Bengals wanted even more. They got it in 2006. Newlee’s ISU squad went 17-13 overall and 11-3 in the Big Sky in 2006 to earn the Big Sky regular-season title and a second trip to the WNIT.
Newlee’s 2007 Bengals took it a step further. After going 17-14 during the season and 11-5 in the Big Sky, the Bengals took out Northern Arizona by an 84-78 margin to give Idaho State just its second conference tournament title and second NCAA bid. The Bengals faced No. 2 seed Stanford in the first round and fell, 96-58. In Newlee’s final season at the helm, the Bengals cruised to a 20-10 overall record, an 11-2 Big Sky record and a third WNIT berth—the team’s fourth post-season bid in five seasons.
Newlee is regarded highly a recruiter. While at Idaho State, he produced some of the best players the Big Sky ever saw. He coached Natalie Doma, a two-time honorable mention Associated Press All-American and 2008 Wooden Award and State Farm Wade Trophy finalist. She is the only player in Big Sky Conference history to be a finalist for the Wooden Award. Doma twice ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA in both scoring and rebounding in 2007 and 2008 and finished her career as the top scorer and rebounder in Idaho State and Big Sky Conference history.
Numerous players earned individual accolades during Newlee’s six-year tenure. Doma and Andrea Lightfoot earned three all-Big Sky first team honors each, which made them just two of three Bengals to achieve the feat in school history. Doma was also a two-time Big Sky Conference Player of the Year, while Lightfoot earned the honor once. He also coached one Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and 11 total all-Big Sky honorees. His athletes also earned 28 Academic All-Big Sky honors in his six seasons.[2]
Previous Schools
Before his time as head coach at Idaho State, Newlee spent 12 seasons as an assistant at the NCAA Division I level. His first stop was Texas-San Antonio, where, in 1991, he helped the Roadrunners to an 18-12 record. His next stop would be Southern Methodist, where he spent eight seasons and helped the Mustangs make five NCAA tournament appearances and one WNIT appearance. During his time at SMU, the Mustangs were 155-82 overall, compiled four 20-win seasons and finished in the top three in their respective conferences six times.
Following his time at SMU, he moved on to Hawai’i for three seasons (2000–02). He helped the Rainbow Wahine earn three successive WNIT berths and helped lead them to three successive 20-win seasons. Hawai’i was 69-25 overall in his three seasons and went a combined 37-11 in the Western Athletic Conference and never finished worse than second in the WAC.
In his first head-coaching stint, he took Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California from a 2-14 record to a 22-6 record and an NJCAA Regional Tournament appearance in just three seasons (1987–89). He got his first coaching job at Saint Mary’s (CA), where he was an assistant from 1984-86. That team went a combined 64-25 and made one trip to the NAIA District III playoffs in 1986.