The University of Detroit Mercy men’s basketball team has hired its first female assistant coach in school history in former local high school standout coach Jerica Williams.
“She is going to be a great addition to our program,” said head coach Mike Davis. “She was an outstanding high school coach and has been working with Steph Curry’s training for the last three years. Now that we can have extra coaches work with our team, she will bring her expertise from everything she has learned to elevate our program.”
Williams will serve as assistant coach and Chief of Staff.
“I’d like to thank head coach Mike Davis and Athletic Director Robert Vowels for this groundbreaking opportunity,” said coach Williams. “I am excited to join the staff, players and greater community of the University of Detroit Mercy, and return to a city and school so rich with history. These are the moments that are usually seen only in hindsight, but I can’t overlook what this means for other women in sports. Only through the courage and vision of this leadership team at Detroit Mercy can we witness the birth of another “first.”
She was the girls’ basketball head coach at Detroit Country Day from 2020-2022, where she was named back-to-back Coach of the Year in her first two years as a head coach while leading her team to back-to-back MSHAA Final Fours, before becoming Girls’ Basketball Program Lead at the Windward School in Los Angeles, California. In the off-season, she continued working with NBA players on and off the court.
Prior to that, she served as an Assistant Coach at Cal State Northridge from 2019-2020 and was the Chief of Staff at her alma mater, San Diego State in 2018-19.
Before getting into coaching, she founded her company, JACE – a consultancy for marketing, branding and business development for professional athletes and organizations – in 2013, later being awarded San Diego’s Businesswoman of the Year Award in 2017 for her work as an entrepreneur.
“It is an honor to be given the space to utilize and expand my skill sets, both on and off the basketball court,” said Williams. “My hope is that this “first” is the birth of a new normal.”
Williams played collegiate basketball from 2006-2010 at UCLA and San Diego State, where she was part of two Mountain West Conference championship teams along with two NCAA appearances. Prior to college, she led her high school team to four straight CIF championships, winning 3 in a row. Recognized as San Diego Section Player of the Year during her stint, she was inducted into Mount Miguel High School’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
She graduated from SDSU in 2010 with a degree in Women’s Studies and Sociology and has a 12-year-old son, Jeriah.
