Women’s Basketball 6/8/2020 1:44:00 PM Ryan Shumaker
Jennings Departs for North Texas, Connor Promoted to Assistant Coach
Head women’s basketball coach Josh Prock has announced changes to his staff following the departure of Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach Durmon Jennings.
Jennings will join the staff as an Assistant Coach at the University of North Texas, an NCAA Division I program in Denton, Texas, following three seasons as the assistant coach at Eastern New Mexico. The Hounds accumulated an overall record of 57-32 and were selected into the NCAA Division II National Tournament in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons during Jenning’s tenure on the women’s basketball staff after he spent the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons on the men’s basketball staff as a graduate assistant.
“We are extremely excited for Coach Jennings on his new position at the University of North Texas.” Coach Prock said, “As a head coach when you describe what an ideal assistant looks like, Durmon would definitely meet all of those qualities. Our success we have had in our program over the past three years is a direct result of his tireless work he has put into our program. The young ladies in our program have great admiration for him and we know he will be greatly missed within our program and the community of Portales. We do expect great things from him as he moves forward with his career and do greatly appreciate all he has done for our program.”
Graduate assistant coach Mikaehla Connor will be elevated to a full-time role with the program after serving in her previous capacity for each of the last two seasons. Connor has been instrumental in the Hound’s success in both seasons as the Greyhounds qualified for the NCAA Division II National Tournament in each of the past two years with Connor on staff.
Connor has been tasked with the development of the guard and wing players for the Hounds during her time as a graduate assistant following a three-year playing career of her own from 2015-18. Her best campaign came during her junior season in which the 2016-17 Hounds qualified for the program’s first ever Division II National Tournament appearance and Connor was named a First Team All-LSC, All-Defensive Team and All-Academic Team selection.
“It was an absolute no brainer for me to promote Mikaehla Connor into the new position as an assistant coach.” Coach Prock said, “She has been there pretty much from the beginning with me here at Eastern New Mexico as a player and was one of the main reasons for our turnaround as a program. The three years she competed with us as a Greyhound she did with extreme intensity and class on and off the court, and was in short an ideal student-athlete.”
She finished her Greyhound career with the sixth-most starts in program history (84) and the fourth highest offensive rebound total (158) for her career as well. She averaged 10.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest as a Greyhound, appearing in 84 total games for her career, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree of Science from Eastern New Mexico in 2018.
“After her playing career she moved into our graduate assistant spot and has done an outstanding job.” Coach Prock said, “She earned the young ladies respect in our program as a coach immediately and they have all grown to love and admire her greatly. When we told the ladies that we were promoting her to the assistant position the players were extremely pleased and excited. We have no doubt the excellence that we have had in that position will continue and are extremely excited about the future of the program.”
Connor recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration this spring from Eastern New Mexico and will assume her full-time position beginning on July 1st.
