DAVIS, CA (MPG) — Nowhere else does the slogan, “When you’re here, you’re family,” apply more than with the UC Davis women’s basketball program.

Entering their 10th season together in 2020-21, Gross, her husband and Associate Head Coach Joe Teramoto, Associate Head Coach Des Abeyta, and Assistant Coach Matt Klemin, hold one mark above the rest of the country. No other women’s basketball program in all of Division I has had their whole coaching staff together for longer than the Aggies. On top of their longevity, the connections between the quartet are nearly endless.

Aside from the obvious husband-wife connection, Gross (1993-97) and Abeyta (1996-00) were teammates and Kodak All-Americans. Klemin and Teramoto were college buddies at Cal Poly and started coaching youth basketball together as undergraduate students. Both Abeyta and Klemin were members of Gross and Teramoto’s wedding party, while Teramoto and Abeyta stood tall at the altar when Klemin tied the knot with his wife, Lindsay.

Taking it a few steps further, Gross and Abeyta were also coached by Therese Cardinet, a long-time UC Davis fixture and current administrative assistant with the program, who was a member of both Jorja Hoehn and Sandy Simpson’s staffs during the duo’s playing days. 

If this list of connections was not long enough as is, Gross and Director of Basketball Operations Stephanie Shadwell locked horns as prep rivals in their hometown of San Diego back in the day before Shadwell went on to star at UC Santa Barbara.

“Our coaching staff is truly a family,” Gross said. “We love being around each other, we have fun together, and we work really well together. I think our team sees how strong the relationships are on our staff and how much fun we have. 

“We try to find the balance between being focused and productive, but also having fun. That is an important example that we want to set for our team. When you are around great people who you respect, it makes every day more enjoyable and makes the winning even sweeter. The relationships run deep in our family, in our staff, and I think it’s great for our players to be able to see that.”

Those connections and the continuity have allowed the Aggie staff to efficiently grow the program into one of the nation’s best, winning each of the last four Big West Conference regular season titles and becoming only the third school to accomplish the feat in the history of the league. Over the last four seasons, the Aggies have dominated the Big West with a 55-9 record. For comparison, the next best team over that same stretch has 20 fewer wins and 20 more losses. 

Trust and creativity have been hallmarks of the staff’s success, with each member bringing something unique to the table that allows everyone to challenge one another to continually make the UC Davis experience better for the student-athletes.

“I am so lucky to have been able to work with my best friends all these years,” Gross said. “Joe, Des, Matt, Stephanie, and Therese, are smart, caring, enthusiastic, and are unbelievable mentors for our student-athletes. The fact that they have been at UC Davis for so many years just shows how much they care about this program. Together, we try to provide our student-athletes with the most positive and amazing experience possible.” 

The list of individual accomplishments and accolades for Gross is lengthy: four-straight Big West Coach of the Year awards (the first women’s basketball coach in league history to do so), a top-10 finalist for WBCA National Coach of the Year in 2018, 173 wins (which rank third in school history) and 98 conference wins, which both rank seventh on the Big West’s all-time list.

While winning has seemingly come easy as of late for Gross and her charges — a by-product of hard work, preparation, and savvy recruiting — it’s the evolution of a culture within the program that emphasizes the development of the whole person that she is the most proud of. That blueprint has generated a tremendous amount of “buy-in” from the student-athletes during Gross’ tenure, setting standards that constantly challenge them to grow — not only as basketball players, but as young and successful women.

“I think when you look at how you sustain consistent winning, you really have to look to culture,” Gross said. “We really want our players to know that we are 100 percent invested in them in all parts of their lives.

“To sustain a championship culture you must have great people, and we make sure that we bring quality student-athletes into our program who care about the team concept, who want to win — and want to win the right way. I think the combination of student-athletes with great character and coaches who are truly invested in their development has led to our success. More importantly, it has led to student-athletes having a positive experience which helps us recruit more great people to be part of the program."

It also doesn’t hurt that Gross coaches at one of the nation’s premier public institutions of higher learning, and the three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree knows what it takes to succeed both athletically and, more importantly, academically at UC Davis. Whereas some may see a rigorous academic program as a hinderance to recruiting, Gross and her staff have embraced the challenge in selling not only success on the court, but achievement off it and beyond after graduation.

“The true concept of the ‘student-athlete’ aligns with my personal values and is something that’s really important to me,” Gross said. “I love that when I recruit players I can be 100 percent genuine in telling them that they can have it ALL at UC Davis. They will never have to sacrifice academics to have a rewarding athletic experience.”

She recalled the story of a former player who had a lab that she couldn’t miss that was scheduled on the team’s traditional travel day, and how adjustments were made so that the student-athlete could attend her class and still make the trip in time for the game just 24 hours later. 

So you want to major in biology? Engineering? Go to medical school or become the next great teacher? No problem. In recent years, Aggies have successfully managed degrees in majors such as biomedical engineering, cell biology, computer engineering, and neurobiology, physiology, and behavior, among others.

“It helps that we have great examples to give to our future prospects,” Gross said. “Examples of student-athletes who earned their degree in a challenging course of study AND who thrived on the court here at UC Davis. We have an incredible team of people who support our student-athletes and help them prepare for post-graduate achievement and for basketball success.”

With team gatherings currently restricted to Zoom meetings in living rooms, this year’s team recently had an opportunity to reconnect with alumnae who spoke about their journey from wearing the shoes of a student-athlete to their current positions as post-graduate professionals.

“They talked about their journeys, the decisions they made, and what they were able to gain from knowing that they had this great foundation from UC Davis to lead them,” Gross said. “These women are incredible and are such great role models for our current players. They are happy to give back by offering advice, relaying experiences, and helping our current players to network.

“I get to see our alums who are six, seven, or eight years into their careers, see how successful they are, and know that our staff was a part of their journey. Seeing it come to fruition is really special.”

  While the pandemic has robbed Gross and the team of valuable preparation time, it has allowed the Aggie mentor time to recharge, refuel, and reinvigorate her passion for the game as the defending champions make their “drive for five” with the 2020-21 season just around the corner.

“We’re really fortunate that we get to do a job that we love and we get to be around great people,” Gross said. “You just have to approach each day with the attitude that this is what we get to do and this is awesome. I really value the opportunity to coach alongside this group and these incredible young women.”

ABOUT UC DAVIS With the addition of equestrian and women’s beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.

UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.

Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students’ social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.