E-mail Coach Putnam!
Jenny Putnam is in her first year as an assistant coach at Missouri and brings almost a decade of college and high school coaching experience to Mizzou.
Putnam spent the last seven years as an assistant for Robin Pingeton at Illinois State. She helped turn around a program that had not earned a winning season in seven years. During her time with the Redbirds, she helped guide the squad to five postseason appearances, three Missouri Valley Regular Season crowns, two State Farm Missouri Valley Tournament titles and a 144-76 record.
Last season Putnam aided the Redbirds to their third consecutive Missouri Valley Regular Season title, the semifinals of the WNIT and a 28-8 record. In Illinois State's WNIT run, the team earned wins over Butler, Purdue, Illinois and a 71-51 victory over Big 12 Conference rival Kansas. The 28 wins tied the 1980-81 Illinois State team for the most in program history and assured the team of at least 22 wins for the fourth straight year.
She began her coaching career in 2001 at Bettendorf High School as the freshman girls coach and also served on the staff of the women's basketball program at Marycrest International University in Davenport, Iowa. Putnam was the facilities coordinator for athletics in 2002 at Marycrest International before joining Gene Steinmeyer's women's basketball staff at Northwest Missouri State. Her scouting and film preparation work helped the Bearcats to a 16-12 record, the first winning season in five years.
Putnam played her collegiately for Pingeton at St. Ambrose, in Davenport, Iowa. She was the leading rebounder on Pingeton's final team at St. Ambrose in 1998-99, a team that finished 30-7 and reached the Elite Eight of the NAIA Tournament. Putnam was also a starting outfielder on the softball team. During her playing career, Putnam earned NAIA All-America honors in both basketball and softball.
A 1997 graduate of Alleman High School, Putnam was a standout athlete in basketball, softball and volleyball. She earned all-tournament honors as a freshman on Alleman's 1994 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class A State Championship softball team. On Sept. 22, 2006, Putnam was elected into the Alleman High School Hall of Fame.
She is married to former St. Ambrose baseball and basketball student-athlete Jim Putnam. The couple has three sons, Jack, born Dec. 14, 2006, Tyler, born May 21, 2008, and Callen, born May 2, 2011.
