Jill Stephens

Athlete Class of 1991

Inducted 2007

Jill entered Gibbons in 1987, and significantly began to make an impact on two major girls sports, volleyball and basketball. Basketball was her first love, and when volleyball season began in 1987 she didn’t even try out for the team, because she felt she “didn’t know enough about it.” With some encouragement from the coaches, she decided to give it a try. She also played softball for one season. Little did Jill know that 20 years later she would be inducted into the Gibbons Athletic Hall of Fame as a premier athlete.

Jill went on to break records and win championships. Her volleyball career was highlighted by two state championships in 1988 and 1989. She was named to the 1st Team All County volleyball teams by The Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel, Most Valuable Player, and captain in both her junior and senior years. She was also awarded the highly esteemed Lady Redskin Award as a senior.

Her basketball career at Gibbons started with a freshman season that achieved just one win, to a senior season where her team competed at a high level with all of the top schools. Jill scored 1,376 in her 4 years at Gibbons. In a game against Northeast Jill scored 52 points, breaking a Gibbons girls’ basketball record.

Jill received a scholarship to Florida Southeastern College, where she continued accruing honors in volleyball. In her 4 years there, she earned AVCA All-American recognition twice. Her freshman year she helped guide her team to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Division II Championship. As a sophomore Jill was named Most Valuable Player, and as a senior, Jill earned the Florida Southern Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. She still ranks in the top three in the FSC record book in four career categories. In 1995 Jill earned a bachelors degree in sports management and in 2001 a master’s degree.

In 2001 Jill was named Florida Southern’s head volleyball coach. She is considered one of the top young volleyball coaches in the country. Her teams have received bids to the NCAA tournament for 6 straight seasons. With a winning percentage of .688, Jill ranks 28th among active NCAA Division II coaches. In 2005 she earned SSC Coach of the Year honors, and recorded her 100th career victory. This past summer, Jill was the head coach of Team Florida’s Red Youth Team which competed in the USAV High Performance Championships. She also is part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’chapter of Florida Southern. Although she lives in Lakeland, Jill loves spending time with her family here in South Florida.