Whatever happened to ...?

... the Pac-10 women's basketball coaches who resigned or were fired in the past ten years?

June Daugherty

was head coach at the University of Washington for 11 seasons, from 1996 to 2007. In spite of leading the Huskies to nine postseason appearances — six in the NCAA tournament and three in the WNIT — she was replaced by Tia Jackson.

Daugherty is now the head coach at Washington State, where she has made a good start on rebuilding a program whose last winning season was 1995-96. She has brought in a highly-ranked recruiting class. Last season she led the Cougars to an 11-19 record and #8 in the Pac-10 — for the first time in eight years, they weren't #10.

Sherri Murrell

was head coach at Washington State for five seasons, from 2002 to 2007. She resigned and was replaced by June Daugherty.

Since leaving WSU, Murrell has been the head coach at Portland State, a member of the Big Sky Conference. She is having considerable success at PSU. In her first season she led the Vikings to their best season ever (22-9) at the Division I level. Last season they went 23-10 and reached the second round of the post-season WNIT.

Jenny Przekwas

was head coach at Washington State before Sherri Murrell for three seasons, from 1999 to 2002.

Przekwas is now a self-employed professional gardener in Colorado. She served as the Colorado state co-ordinator for the 2008 Ralph Nader presidential campaign.

Judy Spoelstra

was head coach at Oregon State for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005. She was replaced by LaVonda Wagner.

Spoelstra spent the following few years in San Diego, where she worked in private business and coached basketball at La Jolla County Day School. Last season, she returned to collegiate coaching and the Pacific Northwest as an assistant coach to Tia Jackson at the University of Washington.

Bev Smith

was head coach at the University of Oregon for eight years, from 2001 to 2009. She has been replaced by Paul Westhead this season.

Smith is now the Executive Director for Kidsports, a not-for-profit organization that provides affordable supervised recreation for kids in the Eugene/Springfield area. She discusses her new job in this interview by the Eugene Register-Guard.

Jody Runge

was the head coach at the University of Oregon before Bev Smith for eight seasons, from 1993 to 2001.

Runge is now the innkeeper of A Painted Lady Inn Bed and Breakfast in Portland, Oregon. It's a whole new game for her, as reported in the Eugene Register-Guard in 2004.

Caren Horstmeyer

was head coach at Cal for five seasons, from 2000 to 2005. She was replaced by Joanne Boyle.

Horstmeyer now lives in Marin County with her husband and their young son and daughter. She is a real estate agent and the director of Horstmeyer Hoops, a girls basketball camp.

Joan Bonvicini

was head coach at the University of Arizona for 17 seasons, from 1991 to 2008. She was replaced by Niya Butts last season.

Bonvicini is now head coach at Seattle University, where she will lead the team in its first full season in Division I.

Seattle University was in Division I, in the West Coast Conference, from 1971 to 1980, when financial difficulties caused them to cut back on athletic expenditures and drop down to Division III. The University is in the midst of an NCAA four-year reclassification period. The women's basketball team will be in Division I in 2009-10, but cannot play in the NCAA tourney until 2012-13. They can play in the WNIT or other events. They are applying for membership back to the WCC.

Kathy Olivier

was head coach at UCLA for 15 seasons, from 1993 to 2008. She resigned last season and was replaced by Nikki Caldwell.

Olivier is now head coach at her alma mater, UNLV, a member of the Mountain West Conference. In her first season the Lady Rebels went 14-18 and ended with a loss to San Diego State in the tournament semifinals — not bad for a new coach.

Mark Trakh

was head coach at USC for five seasons, from 2004 to 2009. He came to USC after eleven seasons as head coach at Pepperdine, where he posted a 62% win record. He led the Women of Troy to the second round of the NCAA tournament in each of his first two seasons at USC. Then a seemingly endless stream of injuries hampered his next three teams. He resigned and has been replaced by Michael Cooper this season.

I have no information about Trakh since his resignation from USC.

Chris Gobrecht

was head coach at USC before Mark Trakh for seven seasons, from 1997 to 2004.

She is now about to begin her fifth season as the head coach at Yale. The Yale women's basketball pogram has struggled for a long time — they've ranked in the middle or, more often, near the bottom of the Ivy League since about 1990 — and they haven't improved much under Gobrecht yet.

Trivia question: How many active mother-daughter coach-player combinations are there in Division I women's basketball?
Answer: Just one, Chris and her daughter, junior forward Mady.