Jacy Sheldon believes she learned her share of life lessons during one of the greatest prep girls basketball careers in state history and as a standout college player, but one of her biggest teaching moments came long before her string of successes.
During the summer of 2015 as she was about to begin her freshman season, Sheldon’s father, Duane Sheldon, ended his seven-year tenure as the Baldwin Wallace men’s basketball coach and moved his family of five to central Ohio to become the athletics director at Dublin Coffman High School.
His career change meant that Jacy would be faced with different challenges as well—in particular, settling in with unfamiliar teammates and a new setting.
“It’s about being fearless,” Sheldon said. “Going into high school, and with me coming from Cleveland and coming into a completely new place, I love to compete, but at the beginning, I was a little nervous because I was the new kid on the block. I was fearless from the jump, and that kind of carried me into (college) and to the pros. That’s how you gain respect. That’s how you start to lead and gain that leadership, and Coffman taught that to me. Building relationships and playing for a team like Coffman, it’s great to get to know them and just to be able to interact with (my teammates) on and off the court and ways to make each other better.”
The 24-year-old Sheldon began serving as the Director of Player Development for the Ohio State University women’s basketball program for the recently completed 2024-25 season and is preparing for her second season in the WNBA, including her first season for the Connecticut Sun.
She becomes the sixth former Ohio State women’s basketball player to be inducted into the OHSAA Circle of Champions following a prep career that included success in not only basketball but girls volleyball.
Sheldon helped the Shamrocks volleyball program go a combined 98-14 during her four seasons. Coffman earned a Division I state runner-up finish during her freshman season in 2015 and state semifinal appearances in both 2016 and ’17 before reaching the regional tournament during her senior season when she earned third-team all-state honors as a setter and outside hitter.
She simultaneously emerged as a special talent in girls basketball.
After averaging 12.4 points as a freshman when the Shamrocks finished 22-4, Sheldon nearly doubled her offensive output, averaging 23.1 points as a sophomore as Coffman went 25-3 and reached a regional final.
She hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Shamrocks beat Pickerington Central 71-68 in a regional semifinal.
“We had a lot of success and a lot of great teams at Coffman,” Sheldon said. “It was my sophomore year when we beat Pick Central at the buzzer—that would be a core memory. Coffman is an amazing program and did a lot for me.”
As a junior in 2018, Sheldon earned district Player of the Year and co-Player of the Year honors in Division I, and was the runner-up for Ms. Basketball when she averaged 26.3 points while helping Coffman earn a district runner-up finish.
She also became the program’s all-time leading scorer as a junior and signed with Ohio State prior to her senior season, when she averaged 28.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 5.1 steals while shooting 59 percent from the floor.
Sheldon, who was named the Division I state Player of the Year by the Ohio Coaches Association in 2019, finished with 2,347 career points to rank 16th in Ohio history. She also holds Coffman’s program marks for career steals, assists, 3-pointers, and overall field goals while leading the team to a 94-12 record. She scored a program-record 52 points during a regular-season game as a senior to top her previous school record of 40 points she set as a junior.
Sheldon’s brother, Ajay, is a 2017 Coffman graduate and former prep standout in boys basketball who has contributed for the Ohio University men’s program the last three seasons. Her younger sister, Emmy, is a student at Coffman.
While Duane Sheldon was a long-time basketball coach before who is in his 10th year as Coffman’s athletics director, Sheldon’s mother, Laura Sheldon, works in the Dublin school district and was a former track and field standout at Baldwin Wallace.
“There’s no experience like being part of a team, and no family like it—especially in the high school days and college days with the relationships you build and the memories you make,” Jacy said. “The way you play for each other and the way you get to go out there and compete—there's nothing like that. I have some of my best memories from there. Those are going to be some of your best friends, so you just need to enjoy that.”
Sheldon began what would become a five-year collegiate career for the Buckeyes in 2019-20 when she averaged 9.6 points and finished second on the team in 3-pointers (44).
That set the tone for a career in which she’d become one of just three players in Ohio State history to total at least 1,900 points, 400 rebounds, 350 assists, 200 steals, and 150 3-pointers. She finished in the top 15 in program history in 10 categories.
Sheldon left as the Buckeyes’ sixth-leading all-time scorer with 2,024 career points, including averaging 16.6 points in 2020-21 and 19.7 in 2021-22.
Although injuries limited her to just 13 games in 2022-23, she was instrumental as Ohio State won its first outright Big Ten regular-season title since 2009-10 and reached the Elite Eight for the first time in 30 years.
In 2023-24, Sheldon averaged 17.8 points and was named second-team All-American and a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award while earning all-Big Ten honors for the third consecutive season and being named to the all-Big Ten Defensive Team for the second time.
In addition, Sheldon was a four-time Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten selection.
“Just comparing my freshman year to my fifth year, it’s amazing,” Sheldon said. “The culture we were able to build and the supporters we were able to gain, that was our goal, to be a successful winning program and turn the culture into what it is today. There are so many lessons, and I met so many people who are my best friends today. If I didn’t go to Ohio State, I wouldn’t have met those people, so it’s been awesome.”
Sheldon went on to be the fifth selection in the WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings in April 2024 and played in every game as a rookie despite battling a foot injury.
Just a few weeks before her Circle of Champions induction, Sheldon was traded to the Connecticut Sun as part of a four-team transaction that included 13 players and five draft picks.
As Director of Player Development, Sheldon’s primary responsibilities include helping the members of the Buckeyes’ women’s team improve their individual games on the court but also helping in “developing them as players and leaders as well, in any way they need me on and off the court.”
It’s been a rewarding experience for Sheldon, who received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and has a master’s degree in sports management and public management.
The Buckeyes reached the second round of this season's NCAA tournament and finished 24-5.
As far as her long-term future, Sheldon has an interest in broadcasting and has been building connections across the WNBA and the Big Ten that she hopes could lead to opportunities in that area.
“I’m spoiled because I played with a lot of (the Ohio State women’s players), so I have prior relationships and I know a lot of them,” Sheldon said. “It’s been rewarding, too, watching them get better. I’m getting healthy, and Ohio State has been a huge part in getting me healthy. Obviously most of the hours in the day you’re working with Ohio State, but I take the mornings to myself to get my priorities, my lifting, and my rehab, and it’s been a lot of fun.
“There’s going to be a lot of new people in Connecticut. I’m super excited because there’s a lot of opportunity with a great front office. It’s an amazing fan base. A lot of people signed for one year this year (in the WNBA), and I think next year is going to be even crazier because the money’s going to go up. It’s great.”