Women's Basketball

Kari “KJ” Jacquart is a native of Ironwood, Michigan and the 2021-2022 season is her first season as an assistant women’s basketball coach at GCC. An avid sports fan since she was very young, Coach KJ started playing basketball in third grade.  As a shooting guard, she played basketball through high school and college. During her high school playing career at Luther L. Wright in Ironwood, Coach KJ was a member of Ironwood’s 1994 Regional Championship Team and earned 1st Team All-Conference (West-Pac) and Honorable Mention All-State honors.  After graduation, Coach KJ enrolled at GCC.  She was a member of the GCC women’s basketball team that won the Region XIII Championship in 1998 and graduated from Gogebic in 1999 with an associates degree in business.  

As her playing career at GCC was coming to an end, she was offered her first coaching job. She started coaching middle school girls basketball in 1998 and realized that coaching was her true passion.  Since then, she has coached Junior Varsity, Varsity, College (D-3) and many other AAU and traveling teams. In the 2017-2018 season as Varsity Head Coach for Ironwood, she led her team to a regular season record of 16-4 and was named Indianhead Coach of the Year. She is also currently an AAU coach for the Northland Elite Club based in Ashland, WI. With a coaching resume spanning over 20 years, Coach KJ is thrilled to finally be coaching at her alma mater. 

She is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and is a huge fan and student of the women’s game.  With the exception of the last two years due to COVID restrictions, she has attended every NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four since 1995.  

When she isn’t coaching, Coach KJ works as the Director of Purchasing at Jacquart Fabric Products Inc, and Stormy Kromer.  She and her husband Justin Soffa reside in Ironwood with their two dogs, Nitro & Scout.