GREEN BAY – Kayla Karius didn’t know much about her players when she was hired as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball coach last season.
At least not about their personalities or what made them tick.
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It quickly became obvious she had something special in former forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz, who Karius hired as an assistant coach this summer.
“It doesn’t take very long for people to witness Jas’ charisma and how personable she is,” Karius said. “That was pretty evident right away.”
Former UWGB forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz has joined the Phoenix as an assistant coach.
Karius learned from conversations with Kondrakiewicz that she hoped to find a coaching position after her playing career.
She saw up close Kondrakiewicz’s interactions with members of the community and her ability to speak in front of people with confidence.
Each practice and game that went by, Karius kept picking up on how smart Kondrakiewicz was as a player. How she would coach teammates in practice. How she would react to certain situations in games.
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If Kondrakiewicz was going to coach, Karius knew it should be in Green Bay.
“If the community loves you already, and now we can get her on the phone with recruits, she has a great reputation with young kids,” Karius said. “She was an AAU coach for a little while, so she knows so many young kids in the community.
“I didn’t want to let her get away.”
Karius all but offered Kondrakiewicz a spot on her staff without really having one open.
Everybody who finished last season was expected to return — Liz Oswald eventually did leave for an assistant job at the University of Dubuque — and the team announced the addition of assistant coach Patrick Bowlin on April 2.
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It didn’t matter.
Even if Karius had to raise money to keep Kondrakiewicz, she was prepared to go around the community and find enough supporters to chip in.
Kondrakiewicz already was displaying a bulldog mentality after UWGB’s season, and her career, ended with a loss to Alabama in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Her class schedule was light in the spring, and she wanted to help the Phoenix coaches.
Kondrakiewicz was willing to do anything.
Learn Photoshop. Put together material for potential recruits. Organize recruiting trips.
She set up a tiny desk a child in first grade might use and sat in the corner of an office occupied by Oswald and fellow assistant Shay Frederick.
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That desk is empty now. It recently had boxes of candy on it.
“Who does that?” Karius said. “Like, that person needs to stay here. If you are that passionate about it, and you are not even getting paid. She was like, ‘I have the time. I want to do this. I want to help.’”
Jasmine Kondrakiewicz has bright future in coaching
Kondrakiewicz was part of the 2025 class of the “So You Want To Be A Coach” program, a two-day workshop earlier this year that is run by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
It helps increase the application of skills to secure coaching positions in women’s basketball and connects women’s basketball players to coaches and administrators to increase understanding and awareness of the skills that are essential for coaching success.
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Kondrakiewicz had coached AAU since her freshman season at UWGB. Her first two years were for a local team before joining Nic Levy, the founder and CEO of the Wisconsin Flight AAU program and the father of former UWGB guard Sydney Levy.
“I’ve always wanted to coach,” said Kondrakiewicz, a Milwaukee native and former standout at Milwaukee Pius. “I coached AAU and really liked it and was like, ‘I think this would be even more fun at the college level.’ Just with people who have that drive and that want for success.
“That was a driving force. It was just more of a when, and if, am I going to get the opportunity to? Once me and Kayla started talking about it, I was set on staying.”
Kondrakiewicz was a fan favorite during five seasons with the Phoenix. As good as she is connecting with people, she was just as good on the court.
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As a rookie in 2020, Kondrakiewicz became the first true freshman to start for the Phoenix since Tesha Buck in 2013.
She was named the Horizon League’s freshman of the week to open the season after scoring 15 points in a win over Drake in her collegiate debut.
The only issue that held her back early on was an inability to stay out of foul trouble, but she eventually flourished.
Kondrakiewicz scored 1,149 career points, had 705 career rebounds and ranks fifth in program history with 121 blocks.
She ranks first all-time along with former teammate Cassie Schiltz for most career games played with 151.
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Kondrakiewicz helped lead UWGB to the NCAA Tournament in each of her final two seasons.
Going from player to coach for the same team in a matter of months is a unique situation.
Five players on the roster for 2025-26 were Kondrakiewicz’s teammates last season. They now are her pupils.
“She is so mature that she has handled that transition really well,” Karius said. “I can imagine that it’s difficult to go from having a locker next to you to now we can’t necessarily hang out on the weekends. We talked a lot about you have to have certain boundaries. There are certain things players are going to tell you that you are going to have to filter through what needs to go to the coaching staff and what can just be a safe space. That you can just listen to players and help them through things that are player-related that you know you just went through.
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“When it gets too serious or things need extra attention, you need to know when those things need to come to us. That’s really hard for young people to learn, and the line gets really blurred between professional and the relationship side. She has kept a very straight line between her relationships. She has handled it beautifully.”
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Karius believes Kondrakiewicz is capable of being a head coach.
It’s a good bet Kondrakiewicz will contribute even more than she already does as she finds her coaching voice.
The future appears bright, but the thought of running her own program is not one she thinks about.
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“I have gotten that question a lot,” Kondrakiewicz said. “I haven’t that desire yet. Still learning my role here and getting a lot of years under my belt, in terms of working with different people and learning. I had a good group around me to learn from.
“Figuring all that out first, and feeling secure in this position, will help with that. But I haven’t had that desire yet.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Jasmine Kondrakiewicz turns to coaching after standout UWGB career
