ATLANTA - Former Georgia Southwestern State University women's basketball player Jonneshia Pineda has been promoted to assistant coach on the Georgia Tech women's basketball staff.

Perseverance, dedication and hard worker are words Georgia Southwestern head women's basketball coach Kelly Britsky uses to describe her former player (2009-11).

"When J.P. played at Georgia Southwestern I knew there was a great coach inside her," Britsky said. "It was like having another coach on the floor and on the bench. That is why we encouraged her to apply for the 'So You Want to be a Coach' program in 2011."

The program offered by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) gives graduating athletes that would like to make the transition from student-athlete to coach a jump start into the profession at its annual convention.

In the seven years since graduating from GSW with a bachelor's degree in business, Pineda has been working towards her dream to be a college coach. She got her feet wet by coaching the Pebblebrook Jr. Basketball program in 2011-12, leading the team to its best record in program history (20-6) and to the Cobb County Junior Basketball Conference Postseason Tournament.

Pineda proceeded to start her own training business called J Sportz 24/7 where she trained athletes to reach the next level in their game. During this time she also worked with Gannon Baker, a well known basketball trainer, and continued to attend all the WBCA conventions for the next few years where she took advantage of the clinics, educational sessions and relationship development opportunities. 

Pineda broke into college athletics when she decided to volunteer as a video coordinator at Georgia Tech in 2013. She served in that role for two seasons before being hired on as a graduate manager for the Yellow Jackets in 2015. Last season, she was a member of the player development staff. In her new position as assistant coach, Pineda will deal mainly with guards, scouting, on and off the floor player development and the running of summer camps.

"I am so happy for J.P., " Britsky said. "She has worked extremely hard and has never lost sight of her dream, her goal, of being a college coach. I hope others will notice what she has done and use it as an example of how hard work and dedication can get you where you want to be. I look forward to watching the next few years to see the next steps she takes."