Andre Jurko - Women's Basketball Coach - UNC Asheville Athletics

Andre Jurko

Title:
Director of Basketball Operations
Email:
ajurko@unca.edu
Phone:
251-6906

Andre Jurko recently finished his sixth season as a member of the UNC Asheville women's basketball coaching staff in 2021-22 and fourth as an assistant coach. After two excellent years as the Director of Basketball Operations, former Head Coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick officially announced on May 21, 2018, that Andre Jurko will be an assistant coach for the Bulldogs.

Jurko spent 2016-18 with UNC Asheville as the Director of Operations. In that position, he assisted behind the scenes with video, scouting and travel arrangements among other duties as assigned.

While in Asheville, he has been a pivotal part of the program in achieving new heights. The last two seasons, he has seen the Bulldogs play in back-to-back postseason tournaments, numerous school records broken and 36 program victories.

In the 2017-18 season, UNC Asheville women's basketball raced through Big South Conference play, which was highlighted by handing Liberty its first league loss of the year. The Bulldogs' season was capped off by playing in their third straight postseason tournament. UNC Asheville hosted Furman in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI), which was the first time the program has hosted a postseason tournament.

Also during the 2017-18 season, Bronaza Fitzgerald broke the UNC Asheville Division I record for single-season rebounds with 319. Khaila Webb also etched her name into the record book, as she finished her career with 1,109 points (13^th-most all-time), and Jessica Wall also broke the program record for the most made three-pointers in a season (90).

While the 2016-17 campaign also proved special, it also brought about its own unique challenges. The Bulldogs finished the year with a 19-15 record, which included an impressive finish and UNC Asheville's second-straight Big South Conference Championship crown and NCAA Tournament berth.

Tabbed as the league's preseason favorite to claim the regular-season crown, the Bulldogs started the season strong, winning four of their first five games. As the calendar turned to conference play, the Bulldogs lost key players to injury, forcing the staff to make changes to personnel and game strategies while asking players to expand their rolls. Despite going 9-9 in Big South play during the regular season, the changes and growth paid off in spades, as the Bulldogs closed out the 2016-17 campaign winning eight of their last 10 games. Included in that stretch were two wins to wrap up the regular season and then four wins in four days to claim the Big South Conference Championship title. It was the first time in league history that a team had won four games over a span of four days to take home the title.

During the Big South Conference Championships stretch, the seventh-seeded Bulldogs won their first-round game over No. 10 seed Longwood and turned around the next day to knock of second-seeded Campbell in the quarterfinal round. During the semifinal round, Asheville defeated sixth-seeded Presbyterian, and the Bulldogs then wrapped up the incredible stretch by toppling top-seeded Radford in the championship game, earning the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season. In doing so, the Bulldogs became the first seven-seed to ever win the Big South Women's Basketball Championships. Chatori Major and Sonora Dengokl were both recognized following the tournament with All-Tournament honors, and Dengokl was awarded the program's second-straight MVP award.

UNC Asheville closed out the season as the 16-seed in the Stockton (Ca.) Regional of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The Bulldogs played top-seeded South Carolina in the first round of the tournament and despite a strong start, ultimately bowed out.

Major and fellow senior KJ Weaver were both named to the Big South All-Conference teams with Major picking up her second-straight first-team honor. Major became just the fourth UNC Asheville women's basketball player to earn multiple Big South first-team plaudits. Major was also named to the conference's All-Academic Team.

During the season several players permanently etched their names in the UNC Asheville record book. Senior guards Tianna Knuckles and Major became the 105^th and 106^th women's basketball players in conference history to eclipse the 1,000 career point mark. Knuckles ended her playing career with 1,129 career points, which was in the top-10 in program history. Major ended her career with 1,116 career points, which is currently the 12^th-most by a Bulldog all-time and eighth-most in the Division I era.

Fellow teammate KJ Weaver also etched her name in the record book, as she ended her career with 747 rebounds, eighth-most by a UNC Asheville women's basketball player and sixth-most in the NCAA Division I era. Weaver was the 108^th Big South Conference women's basketball player to eclipse the 500-rebound plateau and then became the 74^th player in league history to bring down 600 rebounds and the 50^th player to eclipse 700 rebounds. Weaver also finished her career in the top five in program history with 157 career blocks.

Prior to coming to Asheville, Jurko was an assistant coach for Sagemont High School in Weston, Fla. and helped the nationally-recognized program reach the State Finals in Class 3-A. His responsibilities with the team included scouting, individual skill development, team workouts, summer camp supervisor and statistician. He helped develop players that are now playing college basketball at UCLA, UConn, Richmond, MIT, Boston College, Illinois State, Oglethorpe, Rhodes and Manhattanville.

A native of Weston, Fla., Jurko went to Cypress Bay High School prior to enrolling at Florida State University for four years as an engineering major. Before graduation, Jurko decided to pursue a career in athletics and enrolled in the University of Florida's sports management program. He earned his B.S. in December of 2016.