They came from across California and beyond — former players who had moved on to four-year universities, careers, and families of their own — and they filled Percy Carr Gym at San José City College on Saturday to honor the coach who helped make all of it possible.
The celebration for Debbie Huntze-Rooney, who retires this semester after 34 seasons as the SJCC Jaguars head softball coach, brought together former players, assistant coaches, faculty, and college and district leadership for an afternoon of speeches, stories, and a few tears. SJECCD Chancellor Dr. Beatriz Chaidez, SJCC President Dr. Marilyn Flores, and retired legendary SJCC Athletic Director Coach Bert Bonanno were among those in attendance. When one speaker asked how many people had flown in for the occasion, hands went up across the room.
“I don’t even know how you found me,” said Jennifer (Neil) Sweeney, who played for Huntze-Rooney from 2001 to 2003, addressing her coach from the podium, “but you changed my life, like everyone who got to play for you — I’m so grateful
The tribute came after the San José–Evergreen Community College District Board of Trustees formally commended Huntze-Rooney at its April 14 meeting, recognizing her service to SJCC and its students over 34 years, as well as her career record of 949 wins, 10 Coast Conference championships, and five State Championship appearances.
Building the Program
Bonanno hired Huntze-Rooney in 1991 as a physical education faculty member and head softball coach, a joint appointment she held for her entire career. She grew up in San José, where she was a three-sport athlete at Prospect High School before playing at West Valley College and then CSU Chico, where she graduated with a degree in physical education, minor in English, and a Master’s degree from Azusa Pacific University.
She had chances to move to four-year programs over the years. She stayed.
“I knew right away this community was just so welcoming,” she said in a 2025 interview on the SJCC podcast Take A Paws. “It was a family for me. Plus, I wanted to recruit locally and bring students who live in our area here, and I get to teach.”
The teaching was always a central part of her identity at the college. Over the years, she taught tennis, racquetball, archery, cardio kickboxing, and aerobics. More recently, her signature courses became yoga for stress management and a life-skills class designed for student-athletes. “I wanted to be the mentor for the student athletes that I had,” she said. “You want to do well academically so you can transfer.”
That emphasis showed in the record books. In 2012, SJCC softball was ranked sixth in the nation in team GPA, with a cumulative 3.37. In 2016, the Jags held one of the highest team GPAs in the state. In 2018, the program was named the All-Time CCCAA Scholar Team with a 3.43 GPA.
“I knew right away this community was just so welcoming. It was a family for me.”
Debbie Huntze-Rooney
On the field, the results were equally consistent. Her teams claimed Coast Conference championships in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, and 2019 and made 28 regional playoff appearances. She was named CCCAA Northern California Coach of the Year eight times and, along with her entire coaching staff, received the 2025 Northern California Coaching Staff of the Year honor — an award the staff also earned in 2019. On March 14, 2024, she reached her 900th career win, making her the winningest active female softball coach in California at the time.
‘Mama Jag’
The wins and titles are part of the record. What players talked about Saturday was something else.
Speaker after speaker described a coach who paid attention to what was happening in her players’ lives off the field, who recognized when a student was struggling, who understood that players came from all kinds of family situations, and who made the softball field a place where that was acknowledged rather than ignored.
“Some of my players, they didn’t have that,” Huntze-Rooney said in the Take A Paws interview, reflecting on the different circumstances her players came from over the years. “One parent, no parents — grandma’s raising them, an aunt or uncle. I learned a lot. I learned how they had to survive each day just to get here and be a part of something. That opened my eyes.”
Players called her Mama Jag. Many returned after their playing days to coach alongside her, and several did exactly that on Saturday, standing in the place where they had once been students, now talking about careers and families that had been shaped, in part, by what they learned in her program.
A Family Affair
Perhaps no one offered a more complete picture of what Huntze-Rooney built than her daughter, Kayla, who spoke at length about a childhood spent on the SJCC campus and a career that eventually brought her back to the softball field as one of her mother’s assistant coaches.
As a young child, Kayla spent her afternoons at the campus child development center while her mother taught classes, then rode a golf cart to practice. Early-release school days meant game days. She grew up knowing the college the way most kids know their neighborhoods.
“I loved going to the games and the practices and the road trips because I got to watch my mom do what she loved most, which was to coach,” Kayla said. “She wasn’t just a coach on the field. She was a second mom — a.k.a. Mama Jag.”
Kayla played for her mother and, after earning her master’s degree, returned to SJCC as an assistant coach. She was one of the players alongside her mother in 2019, when the Jags won the Coast Conference championship, advanced to the State Championships, and Huntze-Rooney was named the California Coach of the Year.
She also spoke about the early years of her mother’s career, when women in coaching still had to fight for credibility in a male-dominated environment. “Games were swayed, calls were changed, and she had to work twice as hard to earn the same respect,” Kayla said. “But she never stopped fighting. If anything, it made a bigger fire in her to prove that she belonged.”
She credited her father, Paul, who had dinner ready after every game and late practice for 34 years, and her grandparents, Gord and Kay — Gord, having coached alongside his daughter early in her career, earning the nickname “Coach Senior” from players who remember him as a regular presence in the stands.
“Beyond the wins and the championships,” Kayla said, “your legacy lives on in the relationships you built, the confidence you instilled, and the lives you changed. I’m so proud to call you my coach. I’m more proud to call you my mom.”
What She Leaves Behind
Huntze-Rooney closed out her career as one of the most successful coaches in California community college athletics — a record built not through a single standout season but through sustained excellence across more than three decades.
The players who came back Saturday were a living reflection of that. Many had transferred to four-year institutions on academic or athletic scholarships. Some had gone on to coaching careers of their own. All of them, in one way or another, pointed back to the same place.
“Surround yourself with good people,” Huntze-Rooney said on Take A Paws, when asked what lesson she most wanted her students to take away. “That’s probably why I stayed here. There are really good people here.”
After 34 years and 949 wins, the feeling, judging by Saturday’s turnout, is mutual.
Coach Debbie Huntze-Rooney’s career at SJCC (1991–2025): 949 wins, 10 Coast Conference Championships, 28 regional playoff appearances, five State Championship berths (2007, 2008, 2019, 2022, 2023). CCCAA Northern California Coach of the Year, eight times. 2019 and 2025 Northern California Coaching Staff of the Year.
