Minnesota State AD says interest high for women's hoops job

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Minnesota State women’s head basketball coach Pam Gohl stepped down Tuesday to take a job in South Dakota.
Kevin Buisman is Minensota State's athletic director

July 11, 2012

Minnesota State AD says interest high for women's hoops job

By Chad Courrier Free Press Staff Writer The Mankato Free Press Wed Jul 11, 2012, 11:21 PM CDT

MANKATO — Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman remembers when he tried to hire a women’s basketball coach in 2004.

The program was in tough shape, and there wasn’t a lot of interest in being the next head coach. Finally, he hired Lori Fish, convincing her that the Mavericks’ job was better than being a Division II assistant.

Eight years later, perception of Minnesota State women’s basketball has greatly changed, and Buisman is anticipating much more interest as he prepares to hire the eighth coach in program history.

“When we hired Lori, we really had to be proactive in searching out quality candidates,” Buisman said. “Where the program is now, that’s a credit to Lori, and she laid the groundwork that allowed Pam (Gohl) to have success. Now, Pam has the program in a good place.”

Gohl, who coached the national-championship team in 2009, resigned as the women’s basketball coach a couple weeks ago to take an administrative position at the University of Sioux Falls. Buisman said the opening will likely be posted by the end of the week, but he’s already received emails, text messages and phone calls from possible applicants and others who wish to support that candidate.

He’s expecting a wide variety of applicants, from successful high-school coaches to Division I assistants. He expects some coaches who applied during previous searches to apply again, though circumstances would have had to change for that person to be considered this time.

Buisman said that assistants Amy Sander and Jessica Keller have already signed one-year contracts and will be retained by the new coach. As of early this week, Buisman said that neither Sander of Keller had expressed definite interest in the head-coaching position.

It’s also likely that the new head coach will be a woman; Minnesota State has never had a man coach the women’s basketball team.

“If you look at the history of the program, it wouldn’t suggest that we would (hire a man),” Buisman said. “But we’ll look at the hiring goals we’ll set, and at the end of the day, we want to hire the most qualified candidate.”

With classes beginning in about six weeks, Buisman said there is some urgency to this hire. He said that the search committee could begin reviewing applications during the last week of July and bring candidates to campus in early August. He does not expect a search similar to recent men’s hockey process, in which Mike Hastings was targeted and hired without bringing other candidates to Mankato.

“We understand that it’s important to have someone in place when school starts,” Buisman said. “There will be some anxiety among current players wondering who the coach would be.

“We have two coaches in place to continue the work that needs to be done, but it’s important to have someone in that position to continue the program’s success.”

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