Aided by leadership of veteran returners, Siena women's basketball shifting seamlessly into Terry Primm era

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The start of college basketball season is still months away, but there's a lot of buzz and anticipation in Loudonville surrounding the Siena programs. Last week saw the introduction of the new-look men's team, guided by first-year head coach Gerry McNamara. This week, the attention shifts to the women's squad, which also begins a new chapter.

The Saints are just over a week into summer workouts, which means the Terry Primm era is underway. Primm was promoted to head coach following Jim Jabir's retirement in late March. He was Jabir's top assistant for the last three seasons.

Primm has a strong group of veterans to lean on for support, including a pair of graduate students - local grad students at that: Albany high product Ahniysha "Baby" Jackson and Guilderland's Valencia Fontenelle-Posson.

Siena also brings back senior Anajah Brown and junior Teresa Seppala, who's currently playing overseas with her national team. Fontenelle-Posson missed most of last year with a torn ACL, but started the team's first six games. So, the Saints essentially return four primary starters, providing a good balance to the six incoming freshmen.

This veteran core, having been with Primm the last three seasons, is obviously very familiar with his coaching style. And the transition to the new leadership appears to be going quite smoothly.

"Terry's always been the person who you would run through a wall for," said Brown. "And he's going to get that out of us. Since he got the job, he's just been so, like, invested in us and having us throughout the entire process. It's been really exciting."

"Jim and Terry, they have the same format of coaching," said Fontenelle-Posson. "They want us to run fast. They want us to connect as a team. It's more than just basketball. They want us to connect with each other and grow as people as well. I think that it's a seamless [transition]."

This is Primm's first Division I head coaching job, but he's settling into the role nicely, and credits his predecessor for that.

"Tribute to Jim and what my role has been with him throughout our time together - seven years. It's almost been too easy [a transition]," joked Primm. "No, it's been great. It's a torch-carrying moment for us. This program has been a great program for a long time. It's had its moments where it was really high, and it had some down moments. But I don't know if that's from a lack of effort from anybody who's ever led it. It's a privilege for it to be my turn. From the moment I was given the opportunity to lead it, I've maximized every minute of every day to connect with everybody that wants to be a part of what we're doing."

Primm has had prior experience leading the team; he served as acting head coach in Jabir's absence for seven games during the 2022-'23 season. The Saints went 6-1 during that stretch.