Jennifer Leedham begins her third season as an assistant coach on the Wagner College women’s basketball staff.
Leedham helped guide the 2017-18 Seahawks to several top-five rankings among the Northeast Conference (NEC), which includes being ranked second in the circuit in three-point field percentage defense. Wagner was third in rebounding defense, fourth in field goal percentage defense while ranking fifth in both scoring defense and rebounding margin.
Coach Leedham has aided in the development of two recent All-NEC selections. Recent graduate, Sierra Clark, who was recently nominated among 30 honorees for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year as well as signing a professional contract with Arxil Pontevedra of the European Basketball League, was named the 2017-18 NEC Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year in addition to earning a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team. On the floor, Clark garnered First Team All-NEC honors as well as collecting Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association (MBWA) Second Team honors after being ranked second in the NEC in scoring (18.6 ppg), and rebounding (9.7).
In addition to Clark, Leedham oversaw the development of Kerstie Phills, who went on to claim the 2016-17 NEC Rookie of the Year as well as earning All-NEC Second Team honors. Phills became just the third Seahawk in program history to ever be named the league’s Rookie of the Year, joining former standouts Meredith Kearns (1998-99) and Jasmine Nwajei (2013-14). Phills was the conference leading freshman scorer at 16.2 points per game (in conference-only games), which ranked fourth among all-league players and 13.1 points per game overall, a figure that ranked seventh in the circuit. Phills went on to capture a program-record eight NEC Rookie of the Week honors, while finishing the season shooting 48.1 percent from the field (2nd in the NEC) and 42.9 overall (ranking among the top-10).
Prior to her arrival at Wagner, Leedham was the head coach at her alma mater, Franklin Pierce, guiding the Raves to a pair of NCAA Championship appearances (2013 & 2015) while reaching the Northeast-10 (NE-10) Conference Championship game in all four season.
At Franklin Pierce, Leedham mentored one All-Region selection, six All-Northeast-10 selections, and one All-Rookie Team choice. She also coached Tiffany Johnson, who claimed the 2012-13 Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year award.
Prior to accepting the head coaching position of the Ravens’ program, Leedham spent three seasons as an assistant, as she was fully entrenched in all aspects of the program, and was heavily responsible for all of the program’s recruiting efforts as well as player development, fundraising, team travel, and scouting.
A native of Ellesmere Port, England, Leedham is a 2016 Franklin Pierce Hall of Famer. A 1,000 point scorer and a fierce competitor, she led the Ravens to the 2009 NCAA Division II National Championship game. Despite falling in the title game, 103-94, to Minnesota State-Mankato, Leedham netted a season-high 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting which included going 5-of-7 from beyond-the-arc. Running the point for Franklin Pierce, Leedham dished out nine assists while recording four steals and blocking two shots in the process. For her efforts, she was named to the NCAA Elite Eight All-Tournament Team.
At season’s end, Leedham was bestowed several prestigious honors, including, the 2009 Walter Peterson Female Senior Student-Athlete of the Year award, the NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year Award while being tabbed to the NE-10 Second Team. In the summer of 2009, she went on to represent Great Britain in the World University Games in Serbia.
Leedham graduated from Franklin Pierce in May of 2009 with a bachelor's degree in sports and recreation management. Later, she also earned her MBA in Leadership from the university in May of 2013.
