Basketball head coach Austin Parkinson and the team welcome assistant coach Janese Banks to the coaching staff.
Banks will be working with the guards, player development, and scouts in addition to recruiting and traveling as a part of her new responsibilities.
“I plan to fulfill my new role with a great work ethic and hard work. That beats everything,” she said.
Banks has had extensive experience with coaching and playing basketball before coming to the Jaguars. She spent a season at Auburn as a graduate assistant where she helped with aspects of day-to-day program operations.
Banks is an Indianapolis native and attended Ben Davis High School and worked as a volunteer coach for Ben Davis in 2010-2011. For the past two basketball seasons she has been coaching for the Milwaukee Panthers where they just finished the past season with an 8-22 record.
As a student, Banks was named Gatorade State Player of the Year in 2004, and in the same year she was selected as an Indiana All-Star and All-State. She was a four-year letter winner from 2004-2008 at the University of Wisconsin where she received her bachelor’s degree. She finished her college career averaging 12.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
Banks was dedicated to her education just as much as she was to playing basketball. She was a three-time All Big-Ten selection and a three-time Academic All Big-Ten selection. At the end of her collegiate career she was one of the 10 players in Badger’s history to earn well over 1,500 career points.
Following her collegiate career Banks played professional basketball in the Ukraine, Switzerland and Iceland for three years.
Coach Parkinson said, “We are thrilled to be able to welcome Janese back home to Indianapolis and into our IUPUI basketball family.
“After a tremendous playing career, Janese has established herself in the coaching ranks as a tireless worker, an excellent builder of relationships and a great role model for young women,” Parkinson said. “She is an ideal fit for our staff because of her competitive nature and passion for the game of basketball.”
“I am definitely excited and I feel like this is a great opportunity for me to be back in Indiana,” Banks adds.
“Coach Parkinson has really believed in me, and I feel like this is just meant to be. The staff has passion about the game, they want to win and mentor young women. I share those same beliefs and I’m ready to get started.”
Even though Banks is new, she is already planning for this upcoming season.
“I plan on recruiting players from Indiana and the surrounding states as hard as possible and making sure everyone knows the great things going on at IUPUI,” she said, “as well as competing for a conference championship and getting to the NCAA tournament.”
