Jordan Green worked under Idaho women’s basketball coach Jon Newlee at Idaho State for four years, and now he’s back after joining the Idaho staff in fall 2011.
Green was an assistant coach at Idaho State since 2004, but now wears the Vandal silver and gold and there was one thing that influenced his decision the most.
“The big reason was to work for Jon (Newlee) again,” Green said. “I had a chance to work with him at Idaho State and had a great experience with him. I like his style of basketball, his vision for the basketball program and that’s a big reason why I made the choice.”
Green played college basketball at George Fox University where he was a three-time captain. Green said he fell in love with the game has been surrounded by good coaches throughout his playing career. After playing he decided he didn’t want to leave the game and went into coaching.
“I had great coaches growing up through middle school, into high school and into college,” Green said. “I was still playing, but I knew I wanted to be around basketball basically my whole life because I enjoy it so much. It was just a natural progression.”
At the end of last season, former Idaho assistant coach Gavin Petersen took a job at Hawaii, leaving a void in the Vandals’ staff. Newlee said it was ideal to be able to bring in Green.
“It’s great being able to bring someone in who’s familiar with me and the system,” Newlee said. “The transition has been seamless, which was huge for us. There’s no learning curve for Jordan. He knows what he’s doing. He’s very experienced.”
Since Idaho is a smaller program, Green has a variety of responsibilities that go beyond coaching. Newlee said it’s a hard job, but Green does it well.
“He’s done a great job with our defense, our man defense this year,” Newlee said. “He handles all the travel stuff. He wears a lot of hats in our program because we’re not a fully staffed program. He’s had to do a lot of things like that. It’s been great having him here.”
The Vandals are a young team this year with five freshman and two sophomores on the roster. Part of Green’s job is to help develop the younger players. Freshman guard Taylor Weiks said Green’s been a large help in getting her used to the Idaho system.
“He brings a great sense of humor,” Weiks said. “He’s a great motivator and he’s really there for us when we don’t understand. He’s really good at breaking things down.”
Green said he’s enjoyed his time at Idaho so far. Green said when he combined the location with working for Newlee again, he knew he found the right fit.
“Once I visited the University of Idaho on my job interview I was really impressed with the people here in the athletic department, the student body and how much support they have for the university,” Green said.
Green said he foresees a long future at Idaho. While he said he is not in a hurry, he would like to run his own program one day.
“My ultimate goal is to be a head coach,” Green said. “I don’t know if that’ll be Division I, II, III, NAIA — I’m not sure, but I would definitely like to be a head coach in the future.”