Jennifer Gabou, the former Jennifer Magley, is in her second season as head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast women's tennis program.
Last season, the FGCU Lady Eagle’s finished eighth in the Atlantic Sun conference. During the 2008-2009 season newcomers Priscillia Villemond and Eva Sambrano were named to the Atlantic Sun Second Team All-Conference and five players garnered Atlantic Sun All-Academic honors. The FGCU Lady Eagle tennis team performed over 300 community service hours in the Fort Myers area at large as a part of their commitment to philanthropy.
Gabou became the third head coach in FGCU women’s tennis program history on July 1, 2008. Gabou is a 2005 graduate of the University of Florida and comes to FGCU after a year as the Associate Head Coach at Wichita State and after spending time playing professionally on the WTA Tour.
In her one season a Wichita State, Gabou helped guide the Shockers to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship match and a final ranking of #72. Each member of the Shockers’ starting lineup was represented on the Valley’s All-Conference teams. In addition, two members of the squad were named MVC scholar athletes. WSU junior Torie Browning was awarded the 2008 ITA Central Region’s Arthur Ashe Award. The Shockers finished the year with a 16-8 record overall and a 7-1 mark in the Valley.
Prior to coaching, Gabou had a standout career on the court at the University of Florida in 2005 where she earned a No. 1 ranking in the ITA’s NCAA Division I singles and No. 2 ranking in doubles. She finished her career with an 86-21 record in doubles, the second most wins in doubles at Florida. She was named to the American Express All-Star team, coached by Stan Smith, that competed in China. While at the University of Florida she was a First Team Arthur Ashe Scholar, was named to the SEC Good Works Team and was the MVP of the SEC Tournament.
Her awards include being a finalist for the Honda Award, four-time ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American and four-time ITA All-American. Gabou helped Florida win a National Championship in 2003 with a 31-2 record and was a semi-finalist in the NCAA Tournament in both singles and doubles.
As a junior player, Gabou was awarded a full scholarship to train under the tutelage of legendary coach Nick Bollettieri at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. While at IMG she was also on the USTA Junior USA Team where she represented the United States in over 20 different countries. She traveled to Japan to compete for the USA in the Sony Life Cup with teammates Laura Granville, Ansley Cargill, Sandra Cacic, Monica Seles, Mary Jo Fernandez, and Lisa Raymond.
Gabou is married to Desire Gabou and resides in Fort Myers, Florida.
