On Feb. 24, 2017, everything Jennie Baranczyk put into Drake’s program was about to pay off.
The Bulldogs were set to host Northern Iowa in front of a sold-out home crowd at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. With a win, Drake would clinch the Missouri Valley Conference championship.
Baranczyk was about to bring Drake back into the spotlight. The Bulldogs just needed to do what was becoming natural to them — win a conference game.
After arriving in 2012, Baranczyk had spent the past four seasons slowly building a winning program. After two losing seasons, the Bulldogs won 20 games in 2014-15 and 23 in 2015-16, reaching the Women’s National Invitational Tournament both times.
Baranczyk’s squad was on the verge of taking the next step. After starting 2016-17 with a 6-4 record, Drake beat Eastern Washington to close out non-conference play and never looked back. Heading into their game against the Panthers, the Bulldogs were on a 16-game winning streak. Drake’s performances were recognized nationally, with the Bulldogs ranked No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll entering play.
Drake had gone 10 years without a conference championship. With three games left, the Bulldogs set their sights on ending that drought.
Fast forward four years and Baranczyk has departed Drake to become Oklahoma’s newest women’s basketball coach. Just like at Drake, she’s drilling her vision into OU’s program. That vision is centered on a culture of love, togetherness and unity — three things that define who Baranczyk is. Her system of playing fast, free-flowing, positionless basketball is helping to foster that culture. With her strategy, she hopes to pull Oklahoma out of a period of struggling.
Like Drake before Baranczyk, success has been hard to achieve for OU. The Sooners have gone three years without an NCAA Tournament appearance and four without a tournament win. Baranczyk hopes to restore OU just like she restored Drake — not just to an NCAA Tournament team, but also to the Final Four expectations her predecessor once cultivated.
That predecessor is longtime coach Sherri Coale, who led OU from 1996-2021. Under the Hall of Famer, the Sooners won six regular season Big 12 championships and four Big 12 Tournaments. She also led OU to six Sweet 16 finishes, three Final Four appearances and a national championship appearance in the 2001-02 season before retiring on March 17, 2021.
Succeeding a legendary figure within OU athletics comes with much pressure, but it’s nothing Baranczyk is unfamiliar with. She knows there’s a championship standard at OU and knows what it takes to get to that level.
“When you look around, there’s national champions all over this campus,” Baranczyk said. “I just want to enhance our culture and win. That’s our job. We want to create this incredible environment where we win and win a lot.”
Head coach Jennie Baranczyk during Oklahoma's exhibition against Rogers State on Oct. 31.
‘We could really count on her’
Baranczyk grew up in Urbandale, Iowa, attending Dowling Catholic High School in nearby Des Moines. Her love for basketball was instilled early, as the area prided itself on making the sport a priority.
“The importance of basketball, especially women’s basketball, is there,” Baranczyk said. “There’s a really cool fundamental love for the game there, which you don’t get to see in a lot of places.”
Baranczyk’s father, Terry Lillis, was her first coach in grade school before she was coached by Bob and Sharon Hanson at Dowling. As a 6-foot-1 power forward, she was the star for the Maroons, leading them to two Iowa state championships. During her senior season, she was named Central Iowa Metro League Player of the Year and state tournament MVP.
Baranczyk still holds school records for career points, rebounds and blocked shots, plus season records for scoring and rebounding. Her play garnered significant Division I attention from in-state schools like Drake, then coached by Lisa Bluder.
“We were recruiting Jennie like crazy to stay at home,” said Jan Jensen, an assistant under Bluder. “She was just a kid who anyone would love to have play for you. She was really skilled and a great leader.”
While Baranczyk felt strongly about playing for her hometown school, her desire to leave Des Moines was greater. Angie Lee, the head coach at Iowa, convinced her to commit to the Hawkeyes and head 115 miles east to Iowa City.
However, Baranczyk and Bluder’s paths crossed anyway. Lee left Iowa in 2000 when Baranczyk was a high school senior and Bluder replaced her, coming off her third NCAA Tournament appearance in four years at Drake. Bluder brought Jensen with her, giving the duo a chance to coach the person they endlessly recruited.
“We’d always tease her that she couldn’t get away from us,” Jensen said. “Even though she told us no, we still caught up with her … we truly believed that we recruited her to us, not just to the school.”
Right away, Baranczyk earned the respect of her new teammates with her competitiveness, accountability and desire to contribute immediately. She had the size of a post player with the passing and scoring ability of a guard. Her versatile skill set and basketball IQ earned her a starting position as a freshman.
“She always had a great feel for the game,” said Cara Consuegra, Baranczyk’s teammate at Iowa. “She had so much versatility in terms of seeing the game, making the right plays, knowing when to score and knowing when to pass. That really set her apart.”
Baranczyk made a significant impact for the Hawkeyes in the 2000-01 season, ranking fourth on the team with 10.7 points per game in 30 starts. Her 7.6 rebounds per game were second in the Big Ten, behind only her teammate, Randi Peterson.
Baranczyk helped the Hawkeyes go from a 9-18 record the season before to a 21-10 record. Iowa won the Big Ten Tournament when, with under a minute left in the championship game, Baranczyk made a perfect read on an inbound play, finding Consuegra for a wide-open layup. The play wasn’t supposed to go to Consuegra, but Baranczyk’s instincts helped her make the correct decision to finish a 75-70 win over Purdue.
“We could really count on her to make those plays and make those decisions,” Jensen said. “She was just reliable like that.”
Barancyzk remained a starter for the next three seasons, helping the Hawkeyes reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season in 2001-02. She then scored a career-best 16 points per game during her junior and senior seasons, becoming the first Hawkeye to lead her team in rebounding, assists and steals in the 2003-04 season.
Baranczyk was also voted team captain during her sophomore season. Throughout her career, she made it her goal to have her actions benefit her teammates and coaches as much as they benefited her.
When Jensen lost her belt before a road game against Penn State, Baranczyk loaned hers without being asked. When the Hawkeyes held a team dinner and Jensen forgot cilantro for a recipe, Baranczyk quickly fetched it from the store. One Halloween, she dressed up as Bluder to give her teammates a laugh. Baranczyk made friends with everyone, was fun to be around and always made everyone else’s life easier.
Baranczyk left Iowa with three NCAA Tournament appearances, averaging 14.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in her career. Still, she is the only Hawkeye to rank top 10 all-time in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.
“She has always been confident and an extreme competitor,” Jensen said. “She’s one of the most fiery players I’ve ever coached. She played and went hard all the time.”
Head coach Jennie Baranczyk (right) and assistant coach Chantel Osahor (left) during Oklahoma's exhibition against Rogers State on Oct. 31.
‘This woman is phenomenal’
When she graduated from Iowa in 2003, Baranczyk wanted to stay connected to basketball. Kansas State hired her as an assistant director of basketball operations in 2004, and a year later, she was promoted to assistant coach. She helped the Wildcats win their first WNIT title in 2006 before joining former Iowa teammate Consuegra as a Marquette assistant.
With the Golden Eagles, Baranczyk helped with recruiting, scouting, media relations and game scheduling, showcasing her full range of coaching ability. Baranczyk’s defining moment as an assistant came in the 2008 WNIT Championship when Marquette took on Michigan State in East Lansing.
The Spartans ran various plays, and as assistants, Baranczyk and Consuegra had to find ways to defend every single one. On every Michigan State possession, Baranczyk had a counter for the Spartans’ plan and helped the Golden Eagles win their first postseason championship 81-66.
“I would say to Jennie, ‘What is this play?’ and she'd go down the list and call it out,” said Consuegra, now the head coach at Charlotte. “We worked so well together in that game. I was calling the action, she was calling the action and we crushed them.”
After Marquette, Baranczyk was the first hire on Linda Lappe’s staff at Colorado in 2010. It was her last stop before being hired as Drake’s sixth women’s basketball coach in 2012. Baranczyk’s Des Moines roots and experience recruiting the area played a crucial role in her hiring.
“You think you know what you’re doing, and then you realize you don’t know what you’re doing, so you have to learn,” Baranczyk said about her assistant coaching jobs. “I had incredible mentors at all those places I went to, and so I just took things from every place to build my own philosophy.
“The biggest lesson I learned was nothing’s too big and nothing’s too small. It doesn’t matter who’s doing what job, we have to get it done and we have to do it together.”
Baranczyk’s first head coaching job couldn’t have come at a better time and place. She and her husband Scott were about to have their first child, Eli. A month before he was born, Drake offered Baranczyk the position. She was given the opportunity to be a head coach while simultaneously raising a family in her hometown.
Before Baranczyk, Drake was marinating in mediocrity. The Bulldogs hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2007 and hadn’t won a tournament game since 2002 while going ten years without a conference championship.
For the first time, Baranczyk had the chance to implement her vision without constraints. She established a culture of love for one another based on a shared passion for basketball. Her way of connecting with players, then challenging them to improve, turned heads on Baranczyk’s new staff.
“When she first got here, I remember thinking, ‘Holy cow, this woman is phenomenal,” said Allison Pohlman, an assistant under Baranczyk at Drake. “She just has a very dynamic personality, and it was a phenomenal experience to just work with her.”
The Bulldogs went 11-20 and 17-15 in Baranczyk’s first two seasons and 14-22 in conference play. She was patient, though, and the seeds planted in 2012 began to sprout in the 2014-15 season.
Led by forward Lizzy Wendell and guard Maddy Dean, the Bulldogs won 20 games. Drake lost in the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament before earning a spot in the WNIT, where the Bulldogs fell 80-70 to Eastern Michigan.
Baranczyk took Drake to the tournament’s second round in the 2015-16 season, but she and the Bulldogs wanted more. Her competitiveness had fostered a culture of winning, her intensity allowed her vision to be implemented quickly and her will to win was about to lead the Bulldogs to new heights.
“She 100 percent believed in the vision she had for this program,” Pohlman said. “That is what drove both herself and the people in this program to strive for continued success.”
The seeds were continuing to sprout, reaching full bloom on that February day in 2017.
Head coach Jennie Baranczyk during Oklahoma's exhibition against Rogers State on Oct. 31.
‘She’s a very special coach’
Drake and Northern Iowa were about to tip off. Before the game, the Bulldogs’ starting five of Wendell, forward Becca Jonas and guards Becca Hittner, Sammie Bachrodt and Caitlin Ingle all told the press how much Baranczyk had done for them and how much she impacted their games.
"She has made me such a better student of the game," Ingle told USA Today. "She lets us play to our strengths. She doesn't handcuff any player on the court."
Baranczyk’s system doesn’t run through one player. Because of this, all five players were able to carve out critical roles for Drake. They were a well-oiled machine and that machine was a locomotive with no signs of stopping.
The Bulldogs shot 52 percent against the Panthers, with four players scoring double figures. Drake defeated Northern Iowa 70-57 and 6,456 fans at the Knapp Center stormed the court to celebrate the first conference title in 10 seasons.
“I still remember standing in the middle of that huddle with our hands in the air and I made eye contact with Jennie,” Pohlman said. “I think both of us just realized how special that moment was and how much we’ve turned this team around.”
The Bulldogs finished the 2016-17 season with an undefeated conference record, helping Baranczyk win MVC Coach of the Year honors. Five players averaged double figures, including Wendell, who won MVC Player of the Year. Many memories were made that season, including a victory over Baranczyk’s alma mater Iowa and former coach Bluder.
“It was hard because you couldn’t cheer for her that one day,” Jensen said. “She did a fantastic job and we had a great battle. She took the helm of the program and just went gangbusters with it. We couldn’t be happier for her.”
Drake reached the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17 for the first time in 10 seasons, losing to Kansas State in the first round. Baranczyk didn’t stop climbing the following season, producing another MVC Player of the Year in Hittner, who shot a conference-best 44 percent from behind the 3-point line.
The Bulldogs again went undefeated in conference play and reached the NCAA Tournament before losing in the first round to Texas A&M. In 2018-19, Drake defeated a ranked opponent for the first time under Baranczyk, upsetting No. 13 South Carolina 90-85. The Bulldogs won their third straight MVC championship that season, accomplishing the feat for the first time in program history.
Once again, however, Drake fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Baranczyk went 22-8 and 18-12 in her next two seasons with Drake before being hired by Oklahoma.
“She definitely put her stamp on this program and really left a legacy,” said Pohlman, who became Drake’s head coach after Baranczyk’s departure. “We won 43 conference games in a row. She’s ridiculously competitive and a very special coach who made this a phenomenal place to be.”
Head coach Jennie Baranczyk during Oklahoma's exhibition against Rogers State on Oct. 31.
‘She just wins’
To bring OU back to its glory days of the Coale era, Baranczyk is instituting changes just like she did at Drake. She wants to accomplish two major goals. The first is establishing personal relationships with her players.
Baranczyk fosters relationships by showing extreme confidence in every player. This way, they gain confidence in themselves, which in turn gives Baranczyk more confidence in them. It’s a cycle that’s working well to boost morale.
“I've played with some of these girls for four years now, and I've seen more confidence in them now than I've ever seen before,” said senior guard Ana Llanusa, one of the remaining players from Coale’s time. “It makes us want to play for her, and I think that's really important to have a coach and a coaching staff that the players also want to play for.”
Baranczyk wants her players to call their own timeouts and plays, among other tasks. Despite her short time with the Sooners, Baranczyk trusts her players to adapt and thrive in her positionless system, only strengthening their relationship with each other.
Her second goal is to build a culture of love, which Baranczyk calls the strongest human emotion. On the court, it’s seen in an offense that doesn’t run through just one player. Off the court, it’s visible in the support she gives her players.
Baranczyk always makes sure she backs her players in whatever they do outside of basketball. She also gathers the team for hangouts where the Sooners briefly escape their basketball lives. Ultimately, she wants the Sooners to “play for each other.”
“We constantly are talking about really loving the game and the way that we play the game,” Baranczyk said at Big 12 Media Days on Oct. 19. “In terms of our culture and chemistry … we want to love what we do, how we do it and who we get to do it with.”
OU and Baranczyk have a common desire to clear the next hurdle. The Sooners haven’t won a conference title since 2009, while Baranczyk hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game as a head coach. Oklahoma experienced great success under Coale and that success has been hard to come by in recent years. They were once at a championship level, one that OU fans expect every team to meet.
Baranczyk believes her competitiveness, intensity, will to win and love for the game can get OU back to that level. Those characteristics are what gave her the keys to a Power Five program. After nine seasons of building up Drake, she’s tasked with doing the same in Norman.
In the face of high expectations, Baranczyk isn’t letting her foot off the gas.
“With her as a coach, you know you’re going to get that competitive edge and fire,” Jensen said. “You love it when she’s on your team, but hate going against her because she’s so intense. It’s just something you have to admire about her. OU fans are really going to enjoy her.
“She just wins. That’s always been evident with her. She just wins.”
