She sits a couple of seats down from the head coach, shouting direction as the defensive coordinator for a team in the penultimate round of the NBA playoffs.
Jenny Boucek’s path to this position – assistant coach of the Indiana Pacers – has been guided by a two-word question echoed from her childhood through her time as a student-athlete at the University of Virginia and beyond.
“Why not?”
Boucek is one of 15 females ever to coach in the NBA and was one of four on an NBA staff during the 2024-25 regular season. Now in her fourth year with the Pacers – who lead the New York Knicks, 1-0, in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series – she previously worked with the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks.
Boucek, also a mother, is naturally labeled a “trailblazer,” though she’s hesitant to take the credit.
“I come from a family of people who have challenged the status quo,” the 1997 graduate told UVA Today earlier this week. “They never said, ‘Why should we do this?’ or ‘Why should we do that?’ It was always, ‘Why not?’ Like, ‘Things have always been done this way, but why?’”
Pacers player Myles Turner:
Coach Jenny, she’s someone who’s very passionate about what she does. She’s also someone who has come into a male-dominated world and continues to garner more respect year in and year out. Even off the floor, she’s someone you can bounce ideas off, and someone who has your back.
Pacers player T.J. McConnell:
We’re constantly working on my shot and my game. But the thing she doesn’t get credit for is how much she’s helped me off the floor, mentally. It’s an 82-game season, a lot of ups, a lot of downs. She keeps me grounded when things are going well and picks me up when things aren’t. And I’m very appreciative of her.
Pacers assistant coach Jim Boylen:
Well, Jenny’s really tough. She’s one of the toughest people I know. Again, I go back to competitiveness , experience. Been a head coach a couple times, has all the attributes to be a head coach in this league.
She’s also a good friend, has a caring side to her. She’s very intelligent. I think she understands people, understands players, and she always has a comforting word in difficult times. And that’s important in this business.
Jenny Boucek:
I’m a utility player. I think as an athlete, that’s what I did. Whatever the team needed, year to year, game to game, I was happy to do that. I just wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself. So I think that’s my role on this team. I’ve done different tasks every year, but hopefully I’m a good team player, good teammate, and whatever the team needs day to day, I can step up and provide.
Boucek’s uncle, Dr. Mark Boucek, had a role in the world’s first baboon-to-baby heart transplant, and her maternal grandfather, Dr. Robert Heath, founded the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Tulane University.
“There were a lot of pioneers in my family in terms of medical research,” Boucek said. “It was just a mindset that we were raised with within our family.”
At UVA, Boucek was a 1,000-point scorer, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference player and a two-time Academic All-American for coach Debbie Ryan’s Cavaliers from 1992 to 1996. The double major left the University with degrees in sports medicine and sports management.
That era marked a golden age for women’s basketball on Grounds, when the Wahoos, under Ryan, made at least the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament 11 consecutive seasons.
“Debbie’s mindset was similar to my family,” Boucek said. “The way she always saw the world was, ‘Why wouldn’t women’s basketball have this? Why wouldn’t women’s sports have that? Why wouldn’t women do this?’
“So, that was perpetuated through my time at UVA and being around Debbie. It was just like, ‘Why would you even expect anything less or different? Why would that even be a question? Of course you can do this, and you can do that. And she can do this, and she can do that. And we should be doing this, and we should be doing that as women.’”
Boucek’s foray into professional basketball began as a player in the WNBA and later as an assistant coach and head coach in the league. Concerned about her future after the Seattle Storm let her go amid a rough start to the 2017 season, Boucek spoke with her friend and fellow Hoo, Rick Carlisle.
Carlisle, then in charge of the Mavericks, told Boucek she belonged as a coach in the NBA.
“There’s just things about the way Rick sees the world, where there’s no limits for himself, for people he believes in,” Boucek said. “And he’s always seen me like that, believing in me more than I’ve believed in myself.”
Boucek, first in Dallas and now in Indianapolis, has worked under Carlisle since 2018, with the latter continually impressed with the former’s development.
“Jenny Boucek is the only female on the front of an NBA bench who’s also a coordinator and is one of a select few who could become the NBA’s first female head coach someday,” Carlisle, a co-captain of UVA’s 1984 Final Four team, told HoopsHype in November.
Ryan, who remains close with her former guard, said one of Boucek’s greatest strengths is the way she can form relationships and build trust with others.
