Why Utah is still the place for the Utes’ 5-star point guard, LA Sneed

When Leonna “LA” Sneed was only in the eighth grade, she wrote down Utah on her short list of schools she wanted to play for, despite having no ties to the university or the state.

“My parents were really shocked,” Sneed said. “They were like, ‘Utah? Really?’ I told them to watch a game with me and they saw how I could fit in.”

Two weeks later, Utah was already in contact with the young star from San Antonio. She then went to Utah’s campus as a part of an early recruit invitation in only her freshman year of high school.

“When I first stepped foot here, when I visited my freshman year, that feeling never left,” Sneed said. “Once I got to my official visit, I knew this was the place for me.”

But there was one moment when she questioned that.

In November of 2024, Lynne Roberts, then the Utes’ head coach, held a team meeting and informed her players and staff that she would no longer be coaching the Utah women’s basketball team.

She was offered a job as the head coach of one of the WNBA’s premier franchises, the Los Angeles Sparks, and simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

While much of the focus was shifted towards recouping as a team and ensuring the squad could still reach the NCAA Tournament — which it did — longtime assistant and now head coach Gavin Petersen was tasked with making sure Utah didn’t lose Sneed, a five-star high school point guard.

So how did Utah retain Sneed, who is now a key piece in the Utes’ quest for a postseason berth, even after a shocking midseason coaching change?

“[Sneed] picked Utah for various reasons, one of them being coach Rob,” Petersen said. “It was up to me to make sure I told them that even though leadership changed, there are a lot of similarities.”

Sneed, a 5-foot-6 point guard, was the No. 28 recruit in the 2025 high school class according to ESPN.

She, along with four-stars Avery Hjelmstead and Ella Todd highlighted a Ute recruiting class that ranked No. 19 in the country.

Sneed’s high school numbers are eye-catching. During her senior season at Wagner High, she averaged 23.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 5.1 steals per game. She averaged a four-by-five stat line, something that Utah simply could not afford to lose.

When Roberts made her decision to leave the program, she tried to get on the phone with Sneed to make sure she was still committed to the Utes, but Sneed was in the middle of a game. It wasn’t until after the game that Sneed found out about the news.

For a moment, Sneed, who had been signed with Utah for over two months at that point, questioned whether or not she should stay committed. It was conversations with former coach Roberts and the newly named head coach Petersen that convinced her to stay.

“[Roberts] told me that Gavin was taking over, and I was really comfortable with that, because I had a relationship with him through the recruiting process,” Sneed said.

Petersen was with Roberts for 10 seasons at Utah before becoming the head coach. Making sure that the culture the two established over the past decade remained constant was his biggest priority.

“The foundation and our core principles remain the same,” Petersen said. “That’s what we pitched to them, to stay true to that commitment.”

“[Petersen] told me that the culture is never going to change,” Sneed said, “and it hasn’t.”

Fellow 2025 commit Hjelmstad echoed this sentiment in an ESPN + feature about the sharp-shooting freshman.

“When [Roberts] left, the culture and just the offensive style is what kept me here,” Hjelmstad said. “I trusted the program and I trusted [Petersen’s] idea for me.”

In what could have been a program-altering event, the transition into the Petersen era has had minimal bumps along the way. The fact that the Utes were able to retain Sneed, its two other four-star recruits and still compete in the Big 12 the following season has been quite the feat.

This year, Sneed’s play has been up and down — like most freshmen seasons are. She has been in and out of the starting lineup, but is a main rotation piece, consistently getting 20 to 30-plus minutes a game.

Against No. 22 West Virginia on Jan. 27, Sneed scored 15 points in an upset win over the Mountaineers.

“I feel like as time has grown, I’ve grown every single game,” Sneed said. “I think this is the perfect place for us still.”