UT’s Spear Selected for Prestigious WBCA Coaching Aspirants Program

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association has revealed its participants for the 22nd “So You Want To Be A Coach” initiative, with Tennessee’s Jewel Spear among the chosen candidates.

Every student-athlete will engage in the two-day seminar on April 3 and 4 during the WBCA Convention coinciding with the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa.

 

The “So” initiative enhances the comprehension and application of requisite skills for obtaining coaching roles in women’s basketball. It also promotes understanding and awareness of the essential competencies for success in coaching, familiarizes female basketball athletes with coaches and administrators, and raises awareness of talented female basketball players eager to coach the women’s game.

 

“The WBCA network of coaches invests in young, aspiring coaches annually through the ‘So You Want To Be A Coach’ program,” stated WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “We hold significant expectations for these graduating student-athletes and their future contributions to the women’s basketball community.”

 

Spear, a fifth-year guard hailing from The Colony, Texas, is in her second year with the Lady Vol program, averaging 13.2 ppg. and successfully hitting 110 three-point attempts over 47 games played from 2023 until now. The 5-foot-10 long-range sharpshooter was included on the 2024-25 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award Preseason Watch List. 

In 14 games this season, Spear is recording 13.4 ppg., which includes an impressive 19.8 ppg. in SEC contests, positioning her at No. 8 amongst all league competitors. After four conference games, she has achieved 18 of 31 from beyond the arc, ranking No. 1 in both three-pointers made and percentage at 58.1. In terms of treys made per game, she stands second in the SEC with 2.93 across all games this season.

Spear has scored in double digits on nine occasions in 2024-25, with five occurring in the last six contests. She has surpassed 20 points in three SEC games thus far, achieving a season-high of 20 points at Texas A&M (7-11 FG, 6-8 3FG) and raising the stakes against Oklahoma with 28 points (11-17 FG, 6-11 3FG), adding 11 points in the final quarter against the Sooners to nearly assist her team in achieving an upset. Following this, she scored 25 points against LSU, converting seven of 11 field goal attempts, including five of seven from three-point range.

In her most recent game, Spear surpassed 2,000 career points (2,005) and boosted her rebound count to 484, now needing 16 more to hit the 500-rebound milestone. The 69 three-pointers Spear made last season at Tennessee tied for 10th in the school’s history, and her 185 attempts tied for eighth.

Spear was honored as a member of the 2023-24 SEC Academic Honor Roll and is part of the 2024-25 VOLeaders Academy cohort. She also took part in the Tennessee-Rwanda Leadership Experience, journeying to the African nation in the summer of 2024, and attended a gathering in Dallas in July 2024 as a representative of the SEC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Women’s Basketball Leadership Council.