Lewis-Clark State volleyball coach Jennifer Greeny, the four-time Frontier Conference and AVCA Northwest Region NAIA Coach of the Year, has resigned to become volleyball coach at her alma mater Washington State University.
Greeny will be introduced as WSU’s new coach at a press conference on Thursday afternoon. Greeny (nee Stinson) was a standout volleyball player for the Cougars and later served as an assistant coach. Her husband, Burdette, was a pitcher for the WSU baseball team and served as her assistant at LCSC. He also will work on her staff at WSU.
Greeny posted a 112-24 record in her four years at LCSC and won or share the regular-season Frontier Conference title all four seasons. The Warriors also have won all four FC Tournament titles under Greeny and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament each season.
“I think they (the Greenys) did a tremendous job at Lewis-Clark State College,” LCSC athletic director Gary Picone said. “They did everything we wanted the program to do. They took a struggling program to near the top of the NAIA and built a foundation that we can build on in the future. I want to thank them for everything they’ve done and wish them all the best in the future.”
“We just really want to stress our gratitude to Gary Picone and the administration at LCSC for making our time there so enjoyable,” Jennifer Greeny said. “It’s hard to find such a great group of people to work with.”
Picone said LCSC will immediately begin a search for Greeny’s replacement. This is the second coaching opening at LCSC after men’s basketball coach Tim Walker resigned earlier this month. Picone says he would like to move fast with both coaching searches.
“We want someone with college experience and can move our program forward,” Picone said. “We think we have a really good nucleus of players and that the program will go forward and get even better.”
Greeny posted an .824 winning percentage at LCSC. Prior to her arrival, LCSC won a total of 21 matches over a three-year period. This past season, LCSC posted a 31-3 record and made it to the Elite Eight of the NAIA national tournament. The .912 winning percentage set a single-season program record.
“We will absolutely miss the players but we know they are a strong and talented group,” Greeny said. “We feel very fortunate to have coached such a wonderful group.”
Greeny graduated from Davenport High in Washington in 1995, where she was a stellar athlete. She was named one of Volleyball Magazine’s Fab Fifty Freshman recruits. She also stood out in track and basketball, where she finished her career as the state’s all-time leading scorer (both boys and girls) with 2,881 points. She led the Gorillas to two state basketball titles and she won three state high jump championships. Her prep accomplishments earned her numerous honors.
She went to WSU on a volleyball scholarship and became the seventh player in school history with 1,000 career kills. On WSU’s career list, Greeny ranks third in block assists (360), fourth in total blocks (419), seventh in solo blocks (59), and 10th in kills (1,006). She also trained with the U.S. National volleyball team during the summer of 1997 and was a three-time all-Pacific 10 Conference selection. Greeny trained with the U.S. National volleyball team but a knee injury kept her from playing at the World University Games in 1997. She also played one season on the Cougar women’s basketball team.
Greeny also excelled in the classroom where she was WSU’s Athlete of the Year in 1998-99. She was a CoSIDA District VIII Academic All-America first-team and second-team selection her final two years and was a Pac-10 Conference All-Academic selection three times.
She received her bachelor’s degree in education from WSU in December 1999 and spent the next half-year substitute teaching and coaching in Spokane until accepting the position as assistant volleyball coach at WSU. Greeny spent 4½ years on Cindy Fredrick’s staff and then took over at Pullman High when Fredrick left for the University of Iowa in 2003. At Pullman High, she posted a remarkable 84-12 record with a .875 winning percentage in three years. She was the chosen the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Coach of the Year and was tabbed the Great Northern League Coach of the Year three times.
Her commitment to athletic department and community well-being has been prominent in Greeny’s tenure at LCSC where she and her team have been active volunteers in local elementary schools, mentoring disadvantaged youth, conducting Little Spikers volleyball clinics, working at the Avista NAIA World Series, with area club volleyball, and various other programs.
