Jesse Fleming - Women's Basketball Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Jesse Fleming

Title:
Assistant Women's Basketball Coach
Email:
jflemin@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-7070

NOTE: Was named head women's basketball coach at St. Bonaventure University on May 26, 2016

Jesse Fleming has spent four seasons on the women's basketball staff at Bowling Green. Head coach Jennifer Roos announced the hiring of Fleming in June of 2012.

On June 1, 2015, Fleming was promoted to associate head coach after serving as assistant coach for three years under Roos.

"I am happy to announce this well-deserved promotion for Jesse," said Roos at that time. "Jesse is one of the top male assistant coaches in the women's basketball profession. Since joining the staff in 2012, he has been the defensive coordinator for the program and has done a tremendous job. He is invested in the women's basketball program at Bowling Green and in our community."

In his four seasons, Fleming has helped the Falcons to an overall record of 73-55 and a Mid-American Conference mark of 36-34. The Brown and Orange advanced to national postseason play in each of his first two years, with a combined 5-2 mark in the Women's National Invitation Tournament in that time.

BG went 54-16 overall and 28-6 in MAC play over Fleming's first two years with the program. In 2014-15, Roos, Fleming and the staff guided a youthful Falcon squad through an injury-filled season. Four of the 12 student-athletes on the preseason roster, including a pair of starters, had suffered season-ending injuries by the first week of January. A fifth player (and third starter) saw injuries limit her to just 35 total minutes played during the entire 18-game MAC schedule.

In May of 2014, Fleming was rated 20th in the entire nation among assistant coaches by Felicia Hall & Associates, as the organization named the 2014 A Step Up Assistant Coach of the Year and corresponding top-25 list. Coaches were chosen based on criteria which included team success, team improvement from previous season, fulfillment of team potential, and the professional manner and attitude of the coach.

In 2013-14, Fleming helped the Falcons finish with a 30-5 record. The win total was the second highest in both BGSU and MAC history.

The '13-14 team won the MAC's regular-season title outright, with a 17-1 league mark, and posted non-conference wins over regional foes Ohio State and Michigan. BGSU downed U-M a second time, one of three WNIT victories as the Brown and Orange advanced all the way to the quarterfinal round of that 64-team tournament.

BG's postseason victims included High Point and St. Bonaventure, in addition to the Wolverines, before the Falcons fell by five points to Rutgers. It marked the second time in as many years that BG lost to the eventual WNIT champion.

In his first season with the team, Fleming helped the Falcons go 24-11 overall with a MAC record of 11-5. That team picked up WNIT wins over SMU and Duquesne before falling by three points to eventual tourney champion Drexel.

Fleming, who among a myriad of other duties served as the team's defensive coach, helped the '12-13 Falcons set several program standards at that end of the floor. BGSU allowed just 54.3 points per game, a new school record. That broke the mark of 55.7 ppg allowed, set the previous year.

Additionally, the Falcons allowed MAC opponents to score only 51.9 points per contest, again breaking a school record set the previous winter. Opponents shot only 36.1 percent from the field in MAC games, also a school-record low for the Falcons. In all games, Falcon foes' field-goal rate of 37.3% was the lowest allowed since the 1976-77 season.

In August of 2014, Fleming was one of just 40 assistant coaches across the nation selected to attend the inaugural WBCA Assistant Coaches Leadership Workshop in Parris Island, S.C. The workshop was a joint venture between the WBCA and the U.S. Marine Corps, designed to teach small-unit leadership tactics, techniques and procedures.

Fleming joined the BGSU staff after spending the 2011-12 season at Stony Brook University on the staff of Beth O’Boyle. Fleming's recruiting efforts with the Seawolves helped the team improve its win total by 10 victories from 2011-12 to 2012-13. The '12-13 team had posted the fifth-best turnaround in the nation at the conclusion of the regular season.

Fleming's recruits at Stony Brook included the 2013-14 America East Conference Player of the Year, as well as a two-time all-conference first-team selection.

Prior to his stint with the Seawolves, Fleming spent six years at St. Bonaventure University on Jim Crowley’s staff. He was associate head coach during his final season (2010-11) with the Bonnies.

At Stony Brook, Fleming managed the program’s recruiting operations, and was the staff’s liaison for student-athlete academics. He assisted in all facets of the program, including game scheduling, individual player development, game scouting and budget.

At SBU, Fleming helped the Bonnies to over 20 wins in each of his last three seasons with the program, which resulted in WNIT appearances in each of those three campaigns. The initial trip to the WNIT, in 2009, marked the program’s first-ever postseason berth. In Fleming’s six years on the SBU staff, the program established school records for wins four times.

At St. Bonaventure, Fleming held a myriad of responsibilities, including recruiting, scouting and film breakdown, video exchange, scheduling, practice and game preparation, as well as working with the guards and post players. As the team’s director of individual player development, Fleming was in charge of constructing and planning daily skill advancement sessions for the players.

Fleming helped Dana Mitchell become a two-time all-conference selection and the fifth sophomore ever to capture the Atlantic 10 Conference scoring crown. Fleming also facilitated the development of Megan VanTatenhove into an all-league choice.

Fleming’s resume includes a brief stint as an assistant coach at Louisburg (N.C.) College prior to taking the SBU job. He was a student manager at SBU from 2001-05, and was a volunteer assistant coach with the Olean H.S. girls basketball team during the 2004-05 season.

Fleming graduated with honors from St. Bonaventure in 2005, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/mass communication. He married the former Stephanie O'Callaghan in May of 2014.