Basketball Diaries: Meet Jeff & Jennie Wulbrun

Life is a lot like sports. You have to train, stick with it, get along with others, play fair, and compete. A Lowry couple, Jennie and Jeff Wulbrun, are immersed in the world of sports. Jeff is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at the University of Denver, and Jennie is the Special Programs & Events Manager for Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit with a mission to change the culture of youth sports so that every child, regardless of social or economic circumstance, has access to a positive youth sports experience. Their lives have been involved in sports for over 35 years. Meet Jennie and Jeff Wulbrun.
 
Jennie is a native of Bloomington, Illinois, started college at St. Mary’s of Notre Dame, and finished at Illinois Wesleyan with a degree in English and Secondary Education. She was interested in teaching but also earned her broker’s and real estate licenses while in college. Meanwhile, Jeff, a California kid, practiced basketball on an ever-present family hoop in the driveway. He played basketball in high school and attended Cal State Fullerton for college. After graduation, he began teaching and coaching at the high school level. “I loved it,” he said of this early experience. I liked that the game of basketball was a great way to teach life lessons and mentor young men.”

During the summers while in college, Jeff had the coveted job of working at Disneyland, which included working in Tomorrow Land. Additionally, he traveled the West Coast to work at college basketball camps and get his foot in the door at the college level. Jeff spent a lot of time at the University of California Berkeley under legendary coach Lou Campanelli and was offered a “volunteer assistant” position which required him to leave his salaried teaching position and sleep in the locker room. He spent seven years at Cal and became the top assistant coach there. His next stop was a short stint as a scout for the Milwaukee Bucks and then he was hired at Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. While at ISU, he met Jennie who was selling real estate for Coldwell Banker. Jennie was a lifelong resident of Bloomington, and her large extended family all lived in the area, so they decided to put down some roots. Jeff decided to get out of coaching for a period of time and joined Jennie as a broker/realtor.

The itch to coach didn’t disappear, so Jeff became the head men’s basketball coach at Jennie’s high school, Central Catholic High School. After a dozen years in real estate, Jeff decided it was time to return to college coaching and took a job at Virginia Tech (VT). This began the 13-year journey that ultimately brought them to Denver. After one season at VT, Jeff took a job at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) and spent four years there. They absolutely loved their time in the south. Then the opportunity came to move back to his home state as the Associate Head Coach at Stanford University. He was glad to be back in the Golden state, “Stanford was a special place to work with high-caliber student-athletes; not to mention the incredible climate.”

While at Stanford, Jennie began working for PCA, which was founded on Stanford’s campus over 25 years ago. The number of kids participating in sports is dropping,” she says, but there are so many positives to be gained from participating in sports. Kids learn to be resilient, work as a team, become leaders, and so much more, but they often quit because of a bad experience. “The goal is to have them be ‘athletes’ for life by ensuring they have an impactful coach and a positive and fun experience.” She manages the nonprofit’s national Coach of the Year Awards program and a variety of fundraising events across the country.

The opportunity for Jeff to be a head coach at the University of Denver (DU) brought them to Denver. Jeff took over a program that won only two games the year before his arrival. The team had a steady climb in his first three seasons, making it to the championship game of the Summit League Tournament this past year; it was the first time DU had accomplished this since DU became a D1 program. The ultimate goal is to get DU to the NCAA tournament, where only 68 teams out of 366 Division One programs get a chance to compete for the national championship.

14 NOV 2024: The Denver Pioneers men’s basketball team takes on Colorado Christian in Hamilton Gymnasium at the University of Denver in Denver, CO. (Tyler Schank/Clarkson Creative Photography)

The season runs from November to March, so Jeff is busy coaching the team now. Part of the job is recruiting, and Jeff has traveled worldwide searching for student-athletes who can help improve the program. The DU team currently has players from Sierra Leone and the Canary Islands, as well as young men from across the US. “When recruiting players to DU, we’re looking for a good fit. Students with high character and an eagerness to learn in and out of the classroom”, Wulbrun said. His time is filled with team travel, recruiting, and coaching.

When Jeff and Jennie aren’t coaching or working, they enjoy all that Lowry has to offer. Their favorite restaurant is North County, and Jennie works out at Orange Theory Fitness in Lowry Town Center and YogaSix in Boulevard One. She loves having Lisa at Lowry Printing and Shipping help with the promo materials for her work events, and Spavia is a favorite place to relax with a massage when time
allows. Both agree that Lowry is the perfect neighborhood for all their needs.

We’ll root for DU this year and look forward to seeing our Lowry neighbor and hard-working coach on the sidelines. And by his side, is a very supportive wife. They are happy to provide tickets to a game any time!

Meet Your Lowry Neighbors is a monthly feature written by our intrepid reporter Sally Kurtzmanwho knows everyone in our community. If you have a suggestion for a Meet Your Lowry Neighbors, please send us an email to connect@lowryunitedneighborhoods.org.