Hall of Fame Wasilla hoops coach to retire after 600+ wins, 7 state championships

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Hall of Fame player turned Hall of Fame coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax will retire at the end of the 2025-26 season after 32 years on the Wasilla High School sidelines.

As a player, Hebert-Truax won three Player of the Year awards and two state titles in Fairbanks before making history at the NCAA Division I level.

As a coach, she has amassed more wins than any other girls basketball coach in the state while filling up both hands with championship rings.

Her success has landed her in at least four different Halls of Fame: the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, Alaska High School Hall of Fame, Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.

Humble Beginnings

Hebert-Truax (just Hebert at the time) was born in Glennallen and spent most of her upbringing in Tok, where she was playing many other sports that didn’t include basketball.

“My mom actually went into labor with me while she was fishing on the Gulkana River and had to drag my dad away to go to the hospital,” she said. “In my younger days, I actually was speed skating and hockey and cross-country skiing, I didn’t really start playing basketball until fifth, sixth, seventh-grade years.”

She spent her first two years of high school at North Pole, where she led the Patriots to back-to-back state title games and won prep player of the year her sophomore season.

Finishing her high school career at Monroe Catholic in Fairbanks, Hebert-Truax went on to win two more player of the year honors to become the first player — boy or girl — to win the award three times while leading Monroe to back-to-back state championship victories in 1987 and 1988.

″One of my favorite memories is — when we were playing, if we went to Anchorage or Anchorage teams came to us for a tournament, we’d house them out," Hebert-Truax recalled. “I remember having three East [Anchorage] girls hanging out with me at my house after games and we’re trying to play each other. So we were able to compete on the floor and still hang out afterwards.

“I don’t necessarily see a lot of that this day and age ... just, the people I met, one of the East girls, I still I see her at the Final Four every year still.”

The talent could not be ignored, even in the Last Frontier, as Hebert-Truax went on to become the first girls basketball player from Alaska to play at the Division I level.

From Alaska to ‘The U’

Hebert-Truax was a sought-after recruit, where she says fate led her across the country to the University of Miami.

“My junior year, the University of Miami was up playing in the Northern Lights Invitational in February, it happened to be going on the same week in our state tournament was, so they went from that and came over and watched me play,” Hebert-Truax reflected.

“Robin Harmony was instrumental one in that one. She saw me play, and then she didn’t actually coach, Lynn Dunn was the coach, and then Lynn Dunn went to Purdue, and Robin went to Fairleigh Dickinson, which was where Ferne Labati was coaching ... Fern Labati was applying for the University of Miami job and when she was on the phone, they were asking about me and whether to bring me to campus and Robin remembered who I was from watching me play.

“She just happened to be in the room at the same time, so like I said, it was a lot of fate went on, so I actually visited Miami the same two days that Ferne was being there interviewing for the job.”

The rest was history. By the time she finished her collegiate career in 1992, Hebert-Truax was top five in a number of statistical categories; second in all-time assists (694), third in scoring (1,766), third in free throws made (437), and fourth in steals (237). She led the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance and was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Teacher By Day, Coach By Night

Hebert-Truax left Miami with a degree in mathematics with a minor in education, before eventually earning a master’s in sports administration. She sent out resumes across the state for a teaching position, with coaching in the back of her mind.

“I knew when I graduated [high school], I originally went for physical therapy, but then that lasted a semester and I went to mathematics,” she said. “I kind of knew I wanted to come back, and I wanted to probably be a math teacher. My dad was a math teacher and a principal, and then obviously I knew I had some wisdom to give in the game of basketball, so I figured, hey, I might as well coach.

“So my last year in Miami, I sent out resumes to different schools and I came and visited them that summer. I was talking to Lenny Lusk here at Wasilla because they had an opening and I’m like, ‘when can you interview for it?’ And he’s like, ‘August 20th.’ And I’m like, ‘well, I tell you what, I’m going to be caribou hunting, so when I get back out, I’ll give you a call if the job still there. So when I got out, my mom had a note for me to call him, and called him. He offered me the job and I took it. And I’ve been here ever since.”

The Legacy Begins

Outside of a lone state championship in 1982, the Wasilla girls basketball program hadn’t seen much postseason success.

That is until Hebert-Truax took over in 1995. The Warriors soon saw 20+ win seasons from 2001-2006, before taking the Class 4A State Championship in 2007 for their first title in 25 years.

Then, the reign came down. Hebert-Truax led the Warriors to a three-peat from 2011-2013, before stringing together back-to-back state championships in 2016 and 2017.

Wasilla has maintained around a .750 win percentage with Hebert-Truax on the sideline as she claimed her seventh ring in 2024.

“I give her all the credit,” current UAA Seawolf and former state champion at Wasilla Mylee Anderson said of Hebert-Truax.

“She has built me [into] the player I am and given me the confidence that I have today. She’s been amazing and her showing up means the world.”

Coach Hebert-Truax was in attendance for UAA’s regular-season finale last week, as she has been all season for many local sporting events to support.

“She’ll be there for you in and out of sports and she’ll always come, she came to our flag football games and she’s gone to soccer games to support you outside of it.” Wasilla senior Claire Bredberg added.

“She just has showed us to always work hard and to always love one another and to understand like your value on the team, no matter what,” fellow Wasilla senior Kinley Linch said. “If you’re playing or if you’re sitting on the bench or if you’re starting, no matter what, you have a huge impact and to always understand that role is huge.”

Job’s Not Finished

The 2025-26 Wasilla Warriors are currently 22-3 and are the top seed heading into the Northern Lights Conference Tournament.

“First of all, they’re like longtime friends,” Hebert-Truax said of this year’s squad. ”They’re just jovial, we smile a lot, we’re having a lot of fun. They work to the best of their abilities, they’re not necessarily the most talented group I’ve had in the 32 years, but you know, they’re nine seniors playing for each other, playing to have fun, and accomplishing, I think, a lot more than people thought they would.”

Hebert-Truax will be celebrated Friday night following tournament action as she looks to add one more trophy after the state tournament at the end of the month.

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