Let’s just get this out of the way: I love Minneapolis. Grew up in Minneapolis, went to DeLaSalle High School, would move back there if I could, the whole nine yards.
That doesn’t mean I don’t find Aaron Griess’ decision to go from Chaminade to Augsburg puzzling, to say the least. If Griess didn’t have a Division III background (Colorado College graduate, former Loras grad assistant) I would have to wonder if there were something going on at Chaminade we didn’t know about.
I’m even more confused by Pam Ruder’s move from UW-Oshkosh to Southwestern. Ruder is a WIAC lifer, graduated from Whitewater, was an assistant at Oshkosh and took over as head coach after the Titans’ national title team of 1996. Southwestern had a down year by its recent standards (16 wins in 2003, 15 wins in 2004, nine wins this past year) but has at least been competitive in its conference. That’s not the same as being competitive in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, one of the top five Division III leagues for women’s basketball.
This is the opposite of the unusual coaching move announced the day before, in which Central, the 1993 national champions, hired Mount Ida head coach Natalie Nakic. She’ll be going from the 40th-best conference in women’s basketball (according to the Massey Ratings, out of 41 Division III conferences) to the 16th-best. She was 34-19 at Mount Ida in two seasons, but 40 of those 53 games were against North Atlantic Conference foes. This is a big leap.
As for Griess, well, I only hope the job comes with a wardrobe allowance. The whole family is going to need it!
Oh, the off-season…
I will give 5 reasons why Ruder took the Southwestern job (having absolutely no SU sources to substantiate any of these:-))
5) Powerful Southwestern alum likes Women’s Hoops and is funding an upgrade in the program.
4) Southwestern is adapting the Trinity D3 model and is beginning an upgrade strategy.
3) Coach Ruder became a Dallas Cowboy fan.
2) Coach Ruder has decided to take up golf…great courses in the greater Austin area, and you can play about 330 days a year.
1) Coach Ruder likes queso.
Seriously, Georgetown is becoming a very fashionable north Austin suburb, great quality of life, plenty of opportunity for growth in the Lady Pirate program and the SCAC. Texas High School Girls basketball is ripe for recruiting, especially for serious student athletes.
As for Coach Griess (and I lived on O’ahu for 4 years),
5) Finally got rock fever.
4) Got tired of being called “haole”.
3) Got tired of long flights back to the mainland.
2) Wanted to buy a nice house, even on a D3 Coach’s salary.
1) Realized that he would never get great coverage of his coaching career on D2Hoops.com.
Every mainlander I have known who moved to Hawai’i has since moved back (except one who went there to spend his last months of life.) For some people, it’s just too far away, and others find it too unwelcoming–at least that’s what I have been told.
Anyway, what’s so odd about a coach wanting to move up to D3?