ECU Women’s Basketball Names Jasmine James Assistant Coach

East Carolina University has added Jasmine James to its women’s basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach.

James joins a staff led by head coach Kim McNeill. She will serve alongside assistant coaches Jason Harris and Jeffrey Williams.

The university’s support staff also includes Director of Operations Sophie Freiling, Director of Player Development Zachary Kilby and Director of Recruiting/Assistant to Director of Operations Synia Johnson. Additional support is provided by Associate Athletic Trainer Kelsey Reilly, Academic Coordinator Madison Strickland, and Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach KJ Redmon.

Coaching Experience and Player Development

James arrives at East Carolina following a three-season tenure as an assistant coach at Missouri from 2022 to 2025. During her time in Columbia, she focused heavily on player development and offensive production.

In the 2024-25 season, James worked with Ashton Judd, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark and led the team in scoring on six different occasions. Previously, during the 2023-24 season, James helped Judd increase her scoring average from 7.4 to 13.4 points per game, contributing to Judd’s recognition as an All-SEC Freshman Team honoree.

James also guided other key players at Missouri, including:

• Grace Slaughter, who earned All-SEC Freshman Team honors and ranked fourth among first-year players in scoring with 11.6 points per game.
• Abbey Schreacke, who led the conference’s freshman class in 3-point percentage at 38.4%.
• Mama Dembele, who earned All-SEC Defensive Team recognition and ranked in the top 10 nationally for both assists, and steals.
• Hayley Frank, who became the fourth player in program history to record 2,000 career points and earned back-to-back All-SEC Second Team selections.

Before her time at Missouri, James served as an assistant coach at Tennessee Tech from 2020 to 2022. Her coaching career began in 2017 at Bartlett High School, where she served as an assistant before becoming the head coach from 2018 to 2019. She also spent the 2019-20 season as the Director of Player Operations at SIUE.

Professional and Collegiate Playing Career

Prior to her coaching career, James was a standout athlete at the collegiate and professional levels. She played as a guard for the Georgia Lady Bulldogs from 2009 to 2013.

During her college career, James was named to the All-SEC Second-team twice, in 2011 and 2013. As a freshman, she led her team in minutes played, averaging 35.9 minutes per game and totaling 1,222 minutes for the season, the highest mark in the Southeastern Conference.

Following her collegiate career, James entered the professional ranks. She was selected in the third round of the 2013 WNBA draft as the 30th overall pick by the Seattle Storm. She played professionally for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women’s National Basketball Association and also played overseas from 2014 to 2017.

James was born on July 29, 1991, in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended Bartlett High School, where she scored 2,378 career points and was named the Memphis area’s player of the year three times.