Longtime Wasilla High School girls basketball head coach retires after historic career

It’s been a few weeks since the end of the 2025-2026 Alaska prep basketball season. While most coaches have already shifted their focus to the year ahead, it’s different for longtime Wasilla High School girls basketball head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax.

For the first time in more than three decades, Hebert-Truax does not have an offseason. There is not the next season to prepare for.

After 32 years with the Wasilla High School girls program, 31 as the head coach, Hebert-Truax is now retired.

“It’s definitely going to be a change,” she said recently. “It’s going to be bittersweet. I’m leaving behind 32 years of going to the gym.”

In those years, Hebert-Truax put together a legendary career, not matched by any girls coach in this state’s history. Hebert-Truax finished her career with an overall record of 640-214, easily the state’s best in girls hoops. Her Northern Lights Conference record was 321-88, and she led the Warriors to 100 consecutive conference wins, a streak that lasted from 2001 to 2008.

Her teams appeared in 25 NLC title games and 14 4A state championship games. Hebert-Truax led the Warriors to 17 conference titles and seven state championships.

Hebert-Truax is also regarded among the greatest girls basketball players in Alaska’s history of the sport, starring for both Monroe Catholic and North Pole in the Fairbanks area. She led Monroe to back-to-back state titles as an upperclassmen, and was named the Alaska Player of the Year three times.

Hebert-Truax, a star guard, went on to become a standout at the University of Miami in Florida. She led the Hurricanes to an NCAA tournament berth and was named an NCAA All-American in 1992.

Hebert-Truax is a member of the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches, Alaska School Activities Association and Alaska Sports halls of fame. She is also in the University of Miami Hall of Fame, and was named an Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Legend.

Wasilla High hosted the NLC tournament in early March. The school capped the second night of the tourney with time to honor Hebert-Truax and recognize her storied career.

The Wasilla High administration also surprised her with the announcement that starting next school year, the hardwood in the Wasilla gym will be known as the Coach Hebert-Truax Court.

“It’s pretty special,” she said. “I never expected that. I've had a lot of accolades in my past. My coaching career, my playing career. It's not really the reason that I do it. I've coached pretty much for the kids, and trying to make nice young individual ladies to go out and to be productive in life. But it's pretty sweet naming the court after me, knowing that whoever plays in that gym is going to be playing on the court that's named after me because of the accomplishments that I've been able to receive with all the people around me. It's pretty special. It ranks up there in the top. Top one.”

Hebert-Truax said it was also special to be able to lead her team into her final region tournament at home.

“Especially because I've been in the Northern Lights conference all 32 years. To do that was awesome,” Hebert-Truax said.

Hebert-Truax also had a huge turnout for her final weekend at WHS, Among the packed crowd were 60 or 70 of her former players.

“It was so special seeing them there,” she said.

And that doesn’t count all of the texts from her other former players who couldn’t be there.

Wasilla gave Hebert-Truax her first shot at the high school level. After her college playing career, she spent two years as a graduate assistant at Miami. She coached Wasilla’s C-team during the 1994-95 campaign, and was promoted to varsity head coach the following year.

Hebert-Truax capped her career as Alaska’s winningest girls coach, but it wasn’t an easy start.

“Yeah, it was terrible,” she said with a laugh. “I think it took me four years before I won a region game.”

The 1999-2000 season is when the program took a major step in the right direction. After finishing 2-8 in the conference the year before, the Warriors jumped to 8-2 and earned a spot in the state tournament,

“I think the biggest thing is I went from having participators to competitors,” she said.

Hebert-Truax said she had two key seniors that season — Alina Rubio and Renee Lavin — who helped transform the program.

There was also the support from her fellow coaches and administrators. Longtime Valley hoops mentor Roger Nelles supported her early in her career. Karissa Rollman was a mainstay on her staff and key piece to the success for 17 years. The consistency was key.

“With Rollman hanging around for 17 years, it became a little easier,” she said.

In recent years, she has shared the bench with varsity coaches such as Ryan Hewitt, Jenna Babcock and Taylor Devine, another one of her former players.

Hebert-Truax said she honestly didn’t expect to hang around as long as she did.

“If you would have asked me 30 years ago, if in 32 years I’d still be coaching, still at high school, the answer would probably be no,” she said.

And then there is the timing of the retirement.

“I think the hardest part is determining when to go, when not to go,” she said.

In 2025, Wasilla’s senior girls basketball class included Layla Hays and Mylee Anderson. The tremendous duo helped lead Wasilla to four straight trips to the 4A state title game and a 2024 championship. Hays is now at Division I Iowa and Anderson is at UAA.

“I figured I’d probably go out with Mylee and Layla,” she said.

Hebert-Truax had also coached both players’ older sisters. But there were also more connections to the 2026 senior class. Hebert-Truax has known one of those seniors, Claire Bredberg, since she was born, and started her teaching and coaching career alongside Claire’s dad, Mat.

“And then knowing there were nine seniors, it made it an easier transition,” she said.

But there is no easy finish, she said, every group is special. She also said the next wave entering the program is also supposed to be a good group.

Hebert-Truax said she did not want to fixate on her retirement during the season.

“I tried not to think about it,” she said. “It was a little emotional after the last game, knowing it was going to be your last.”

The Warriors beat West Anchorage 72-51 in the ASAA 4A fourth-place game of the state tournament to send Hebert-Truax off with a win.

“We got a little teary after that,” she said.

Hebert-Truax said she’s not sure if she will return to coaching, but she definitely needs to take a step away right now. She said that is especially true for Wasilla High, out of respect for her future successor.

“They’ve got to know it’s going to be their program,” she said.

In the meantime, Hebert-Truax is ready for new adventures.

“I'm ready to move on and do some other things. My husband and I have a bucket list we want to do, and we want to do it before we can't do it physically,” Hebert-Truax said.

Contact the Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.