Hokie ClubJen Hoover joined the Hokies as an assistant coach of the program in April of 2024. Hoover, who most recently was an assistant at Kentucky for two seasons, is the all-time winningest coach at her alma mater, Wake Forest, where she led the program for 10 years.
In her second season in Blacksburg, the Hokies posted a 23-10 overall record and went 12-6 in ACC play, marking just the fourth time in program history Virginia Tech recorded 12 conference victories in a season. The Hokies advanced to the second round of the ACC Tournament with a win over Georgia Tech as the No. 6 seed before earning an NCAA Tournament berth.
Hoover played a key role in the development of the Hokies’ frontcourt, highlighted by the emergence of Kilah Freelon as one of the ACC’s top rebounders. Freelon averaged 8.5 rebounds per game and totaled 272 boards in 32 appearances. She recorded eight double-digit rebounding games, including a career-high 18 rebounds hit twice during the year. Freelon finished the season ranked eighth in the ACC in both total rebounds and rebounds per game, while also placing ninth in blocks.
Carys Baker also took a major step forward under Hoover’s guidance, averaging 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game after posting 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds the previous season. Baker scored 20 or more points 10 times, highlighted by a career-tying 24-point outing at Stanford. Against ACC competition, she elevated her play further, averaging 14.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Baker led the Hokies with 1,075 minutes played, earned All-ACC Second Team honors and finished the season ranked in 10 different conference statistical categories.
Freshman forward Aniya Trent also developed into an important contributor in the post rotation. Trent led all Hokie freshmen in minutes played, appearing in 29 games and totaling 286 minutes. She set career-highs with nine points and two steals against Presbyterian, matched her career-best three blocks on three occasions, and pulled down a personal-best eight rebounds against Georgia Tech on Feb. 22. She concluded the season shooting 63.2 percent from the floor.
In Hoover’s first season with the Hokies, Virginia Tech won 19 games, highlighted by a victory over previously unbeaten and 13th-ranked Georgia Tech. The Hokies earned the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro and concluded the season with an appearance in the WBIT.
In the post, senior forward Rose Micheaux produced the best season of her career highlighted by recording just the second triple-double in program history with a 19-point, 14-rebound and 10-assist performance against Elon. Micheaux started every game she played during the 2024-25 season and increased her scoring average from 4.1 points per game the previous year to 12.2 points per contest as a senior. She led the Hokies with 7.4 rebounds per game and ranked third in the ACC in field goal percentage at better than 58 percent.
That same season, Carys Baker emerged as one of the nation’s top young forwards during her sophomore campaign, averaging 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while tripling her scoring production from the previous year. She led the team in minutes played and shot 46 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range. Baker recorded 23 double-digit scoring performances, three 20-point games, and two double-doubles. In ACC play, she raised her production to 14.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting better than 48 percent overall and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Under her leadership, the Demon Deacons had back-to-back All-ACC First Team selections in Ivana Raca in 2021 and Jewel Spear in 2022. Moreover, Wake Forest produced two WNBA Draft picks under Hoover, including recent selection, Raca, who was taken by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2021. While at Wake Forest, Hoover also developed five 1,000-point scorers.
Before her time in Winston-Salem, Hoover spent one year as the head coach at High Point in 2011-12. During that season, the Panthers earned a 20-13 record, including a 13-5 mark in the Big South. The 20 wins tied for the most in a single season since High Point moved to Division I in 1999. Hoover was named the 2012 Spalding Maggie Dixion Division I Rookie Coach of the Year after the season.
“I am both thrilled and grateful to join Coach Duffy and the entire Virginia Tech family,” Hoover said. “Not only is she a proven winner with a knack for player development, but her character and integrity shine through in everything she does. Returning to the ACC and coming home to coach at Virginia Tech is an incredible honor! I’m eager to get to work building strong relationships with our student-athletes, collaborating with our staff, and immersing myself in the unwavering passion of Hokie Nation.”
Hoover’s assistant coaching career began in 1994 and included stints at California, Virginia, Memphis, James Madison, East Carolina, VCU and Missouri-Kansas City.
In three seasons as an assistant coach at California, from 2008-11, she helped the Golden Bears to a combined 69-36 record, their first-ever NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2009 and a WNIT Championship in 2010. She also helped bring in back-to-back, top-10 recruiting classes at California, including the No. 1 class in 2009. While at Cal, Hoover helped coach Kentucky alumna and current coaching video coordinator DeNesha Stallworth, among All-Americans such as Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton.
Before her time at California, Hoover was an associate head coach at Memphis in 2007-08 and an assistant coach with the Tigers in 2002-03. Between those two stops at Memphis, she spent four years as an assistant coach, including two years as a recruiting coordinator, under Hall of Farmer Debbie Ryan at Virginia from 2003-07. There, she helped produce a pair of top-15 recruiting classes in 2005 and 2006 and guided the program to a couple of 20-win seasons, an NCAA Tournament appearance and two WNIT berths. She also helped Virginia ink junior college All-American Aisha Mohammed and McDonald’s All-American and 2006-07 ACC Rookie of the Year Monica Wright.
Hoover started her coaching career at the University of Missouri-Kansas City from 1994-96, before becoming an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth for two seasons in 1996-98. She then spent two seasons at East Carolina from 1998-00, before moving on to James Madison in 2000-02, where she helped the Dukes to the WNIT Final Four.
Hoover has an impressive reputation for developing forwards at the highest level, in part because of her own playing career. A post player herself, she starred for Wake Forest from 1987-91. She was a three-time All-ACC selection and is still second on the school’s career charts for points (1,728) and rebounds (1,006). Hoover led the Demon Deacons to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1988, and the next year, she helped the South Team win a bronze medal at the Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City, Okla., in 1989. Hoover was later inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Following her collegiate career in Winston-Salem, she played professionally overseas for the Solna IF Basketball Team in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1991-92. She then played with Athletes in Action on the USA Fall Exhibition Tour in 1993, followed by the Australian Spring Tour the following year, before beginning her career in coaching.
The Roanoke, Virginia, native married her husband John in 2001 and the two have one daughter, Maggie.