<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2LbWGs_1H28oZq000" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2LbWGs_1H28oZq000" width="900" height="1200" ></figure>Kylie Jimenez was hired in 2026.Courtesy | Austin ThomasonKylie Jimenez has joined the women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach specializing in defense.She comes to the Chargers after a season as an assistant coach at the Metropolitan State University of Denver where she helped secure a nine-win improvement over the previous season. Jimenez began her career playing at Portland State University where she was point guard for four years. At Portland State she won several honors, including Big Sky Freshman of the Year as well as being named to the All-Big Sky team twice and the All-Big Sky Tourney team, according to her. She graduated from Portland State one of only three players to have scored more than 1,000 points, 500 assists, and 250 steals.A Colorado native, Jimenez has been a fan of basketball her whole life. Her mother played basketball in college and her father coached her and her sister growing up.“I grew up in a basketball family,” Jimenez said. “It was the only sport I really loved and stuck with.”After Portland State, Jimenez took advantage of the NCAA COVID-19 eligibility extensions, and decided to take a fifth year at the University of Nevada-Reno, where she got to play a season with her sister. That season, she started all 33 games, helped lead the Wolfpack to a 20-win season, and finished top 10 in the Mountain West Conference in steals and assists, placing her second in the NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio, with 3.19.“After that, I got the opportunity to sign with an agent and went overseas to Germany. I was only there briefly,” Jimenez said. “I always knew I wanted to get back into coaching.”She moved back to America, and took up the offer her coach at Portland State made to her when she was a student: “When you’re ready to get into coaching, let me know, and I will help you find a position.”Jimenez joined coach Lynn Kennedy at McNeese State University and coached there for two years before following Kennedy back to her home state of Colorado where she spent last season. “He took an athletic director spot and got out of coaching, which left me up in the air of what I wanted to do, and then the timing of everything worked out perfectly,” Jimenez said. “I came out here for an in-person interview and it felt like a great fit for me.”Hillsdale head coach Brianna Schepel said Jimenez came at a perfect time for the program. “Our athletic director, John Tharp, absolutely loved her and said we could offer her the job on the spot, and then thankfully she accepted on the spot,” Schepel said. “She loved it just as much as we loved her.”Looking at the 2026-27 season, Schepel says they want to be the best and are excited about the strong buy-in they have from the coaches and athletes leading into games. They look forward to winning the G-MAC title and not only making it into the NCAA tournament but winning games in the postseason.“We want to be consistently at the top,” Schepel said, “and so I’m excited for teams to get to see what we have and the way we’re going to be able to do that.”Jimenez says she has a competitive spirit that’s already bringing out a competitive edge on the court. The team won its Nov. 14 exhibition game against Schoolcraft College by more than 30 points with the debut of Jimenez’s new defensive style.“It’s a zone, and it’s one that we’ve never played anything like before,” fifth-year forward Sydney Pnacek said. “It’s fast and it’s going to be called on the fly, so it will confuse other teams very quickly, and they won’t necessarily have time to figure out how to break it.”Pnacek said Jimenez’s experience on the court is one of the greatest strengths to the team.“Analyzing as a point guard is the type of thing that we need in a coach, because she, as the point guard, sees every position very well,” Pnacek said. “She can see how the parts all move together, rather than just the individual strengths of each position.”Schepel added that Jimenez’s experience as an athlete will contribute to the culture of the team.“From our first conversation, it was easy to talk with her and hear her heart,” Schepel said. “We knew from a cultural and relational standpoint that she was going to do more than basketball and really be here to care for the people around her and do that at an elite level.”</div></body>

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Kylie Jimenez was hired in 2026. Kylie Jimenez has joined the women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach specializing in defense. She comes to the Chargers after a season as an assistant coach at the Metropolitan State University of Denver where she helped secure a nine-win improvement over the previous season.

Assistant coach brings pro experience

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Kylie Jimenez was hired in 2026. Kylie Jimenez has joined the women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach specializing in defense. She comes to the Char

Assistant coach brings pro experience

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