Njeri Nelms - Assistant Coach - Women's Basketball Coaches

Njeri Nelms

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
nelms@calpoly.edu

Njeri Nelms is in her second year as an assistant coach for the Cal Poly women's basketball program after being hired in the summer of 2022.

In her first year as an assistant coach with the Mustangs, Nelms was part of a staff that tripled the win total from the previous year and coached Oumou Toure to an All-Big West selection. In her second year, she helped the Mustangs end the season with a 17-14 overall season record. They were 13-7 in the Big West Conference. He helped coach three Mustangs to All-Big West accolades with Natalia Ackerman receiving First Team All-Big West and All-Defensive Team, Mary Carter taking home the All-Freshmen Team and Annika Shah with an Honorable Mention award. Ackerman also earned her first Big West All- Academic selection. The Mustangs had a banner season with 17 wins for the first time since the 2017-18 season, along with sending them to the WNIT Postseason Tournament for the first time since 2014.

After finishing her playing career at Charleston Southern in 2018, Nelms started teaching and coaching the game in her hometown of Pensacola, Fla. and was a personal basketball trainer for players 5^th grade through college, working with them to improve their game.

In 2019, she was an assistant women's basketball coach at East Hill Christian High School in Pensacola where she worked under fellow Mustang women's basketball assistant coach Samba Johnson.

"Coach Nelms is a young up-and-coming coach with a relentless work ethic," head coach Shanele Stires said. "Because Coach Nelms played at the Division I level and has spent time as a coach at a successful high school program, she understands what it takes to be successful as a student-athlete. She has a tremendous eye for talent and a knack for connecting with people. We are excited for her to bring her talents to Cal Poly!"

As a player at Charleston Southern, she was named Second Team All-Conference in 2018 after leading the team in scoring 10.1 points per game to go along with 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Nelms graduated from Charleston Southern with a degree in Human Resources Management.

Prior to Charleston Southern, Nelms played two seasons at Daytona State College from 2015-17 where she was named First Team All-Conference as a sophomore and helped lead the program to a top-10 national ranking and a Mid-Florida Conference Championship as a freshman while going undefeated in conference play.

Nelms graduated from Pensacola High School in 2015 after a decorated high school career which included being named First Team All-State as a senior.

"Our players will learn a great deal from her and she fits seamlessly into our staff and team-first culture," Stires added. "Our future is bright with Coach Nelms' addition to our program."