Jinks Coleman (died October 20, 2000) was an American college sports coach. She was the first head coach of the women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

(LSU) from 1975 to 1979. Coleman led the Lady Tigers (then the BenGals) to a 91–32 record before resigning 15 games into the 1978–1979 season. She was also the first head coach of the

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team from 1974 to 1976. Following the 1976 volleyball season, she was released from her duties as

coach (finishing with a record of 75–22) and allowed to concentrate solely on

. She was succeeded as head

coach by

Gerry Owens Gerry Owens is the vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer of Irish industrial rock band Lluther. Owens was born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. His father was a musician. After spending some time in London and playing in a seri ...

. Throughout her tenure, however, she was required to teach five physical education classes in addition to her coaching duties. Coleman led the Lady Tigers to a #11 final AP ranking in the 1976–1977 season and to a #10 final AP ranking in the 1977–1978 season. Her teams went to three

Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

(AIAW) Tournaments, won a state title in 1978, and earned a regional crown in 1977. In the 1977

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

National Tournament in

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, Coleman's LSU team defeated

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(91-53), Baylor (71-64), and

Immaculata College Immaculata University is a private Catholic university in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The university has 1,427 traditional undergraduate and adu ...

(74-68), before falling to Margaret Wade's #1 ranked

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team in the national championship game by a score of 68-55. Prior to becoming the first women's

head coach at LSU, Coleman was the head girls'

coach at Monterey High School in Monterey, Louisiana, where she led her team to the 1971 Class B Final Four. Coleman died in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

on October 20, 2000, from

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. The LSU Lady Tigers' team locker room is named after her. The Jinks Coleman Memorial Scholarship Fund provides an annual scholarship to a female physical education major committed to instruction in physical education.

LSU head coaching record (women's basketball)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Jinks 1944 births 2000 deaths American women's basketball coaches American volleyball coaches Basketball coaches from Louisiana LSU Tigers women's basketball coaches LSU Tigers women's volleyball coaches