Coming home: Winningham rejoins alma mater as Head Athletic Trainer
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who bleeds Purple and Gold more than Jennifer Winningham Owens. So when the opportunity arose for Winningham to return to Tennessee Tech as its newest Head Athletic Trainer, the decision was an easy one. “There has always been hope that I would someday get to return home to Tech in this position,” Winningham said. “I am super excited to be returning to Cookeville and Tennessee Tech. “This isn’t just a job for me. This is coming back to my alma mater that I have had such pride in since starting school in 1999. You will not find anyone with more Tech pride than the Winningham family.”
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who bleeds Purple and Gold more than Jennifer Winningham Owens. So when the opportunity arose for Winningham to return to Tennessee Tech as its newest Head Athletic Trainer, the decision was an easy one.
"There has always been hope that I would someday get to return home to Tech in this position," Winningham said. "I am super excited to be returning to Cookeville and Tennessee Tech.
"This isn't just a job for me. This is coming back to my alma mater that I have had such pride in since starting school in 1999. You will not find anyone with more Tech pride than the Winningham family."
That is definitely true. Winningham's father, longtime state legislator Les Winningham, earned both a bachelor's in health and physical education in 1964 and master's in curriculum and instruction in 1967 from Tennessee Tech, while all five of his daughters all attended the University.
"We have 10 degrees from Tech between us," Jennifer said, proudly, "and my nephew is currently a sophomore."
The elder Winningham instilled that pride in the University to his daughters at a young age.
"Growing up, my dad used to drive me and my sisters through campus and would say things like 'When you all are at Tech…' or 'When you start school at Tech…". Tech has always been a special place to my family. Coming back means so much and I wish my parents were still here to see it.
"I always say that Tennessee Tech is a special place and now that I am back, I can't wait to help show more people just how special it is."
In her time at Tennessee Tech as a student athletic trainer to a member of the staff in her previous tenure from 2005 to 2009, she worked with two long-time Tech head athletic trainers in David Green and Joe Erdeljac, learning valuable experience under their watch.
"Coming back to be the head athletic trainer after them will be tough and I have big shoes to fill," Winningham said. "They both lead Tech through different times. I can only hope that I can have as great of an impact on Tech Athletics as they have. I want to make a positive impact on the student-athletes, coaches, staff and Tennessee Tech as a whole."
Even in the last year, when a group of Tech athletic trainers were stranded because of the effects of Hurricane Helene this past fall, Winningham volunteered to help the Golden Eagle training staff with the football game at Gardner-Webb. She also made the trek over to Columbia, S.C., to cheer on the Tech women's basketball team in the NCAA Regional against No. 1 South Carolina.
She may not have been wearing the Purple and Gold, but Tennessee Tech still meant a lot to her.
"We are truly excited to welcome Jennifer back to Tennessee Tech," said Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "To have her come home to the University to watch over our student-athletes is a tremendous addition to our staff. Jennifer is a consummate professional and her pride in all of our programs is strong. With her years of experience, I have complete faith and know she will bring a lot to the table for our sports medicine staff."
Following her graduation from Tech in 2003, Winningham served two years as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at Louisiana Tech, working with volleyball and softball and assisted with women's basketball.
She returned to Cookeville for the first time in 2005 and stayed through the 2008-09 academic year. With the Tech Sports Medicine group, she provided primary coverage with track and field and men's and women's tennis while assisting with football during her internship, then shifted duties to the primary contact for soccer and softball, then women's basketball and volleyball.
In August 2009, Winningham joined the staff at Louisiana-Monroe, where she was primarily the contact with women's basketball and a secondary with football, while also spending time with women's soccer and softball.
She continued at ULM through May 2013 when she was hired as an athletic training coordinator at UNC Charlotte. Winningham advanced through the ranks as assistant athletic trainer from 2013 to 2015, the associate head athletic trainer for women's athletics in 2015, then the athletic training coordinator for Atrium Health in 2023.
While at Charlotte, Winningham was primarily responsible for women's basketball, while assisting with men's and women's tennis and baseball. She also assisted WNBA athletes Maya Caldwell, Tiffany Mitchell and Cierra Burdick during offseason recovery and rehab.
She has been the acting athletic trainer on site for multiple Ohio Valley Conference, Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA tournaments and has even been an athletic trainer at the 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball First and Second Rounds in Shreveport, La., and the 2015 and 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball First and Second Rounds in Charlotte. She has also been an athletic trainer for the 2017 USA Basketball Youth Regional Camp.
