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Coach Bauer resigns
BY ZACH GRILL
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
iISSUE: 78/28
For the fourth time in four years, the UMD women’s basketball team will be looking for a new head coach. Former head coach Tanya Bauer resigned on Monday, April 21, after only one year at the helm of the Bulldogs. “Obviously this comes as a shock to us,” said assistant coach Kevin Chaney. “None of us could see this coming. I don’t think she could see it coming.”
Bauer left UMD to take an assistant coaching position at Southern Illinois, a Division I school, according to the UMD Web site. “She thought long and hard about it,” Chaney said. “An opportunity presented itself, and she decided to take it.” During her only year as head coach, Bauer led the Bulldogs to a disappointing 4-23 record, including a 1-11 mark in the North Central Conference.
This kind of coaching turnover is nothing new to the seniors on the team, who have had a new coach each of the last four years. “They are a close-knit team; they bonded last year,” Chaney said. “This is all they [the seniors] know. They can handle it, and they will help the younger players.”
The quick exit of so many coaches makes it hard for the program to recruit players and build a winning team.
“Recruiting will be a challenge,” Chaney said. “This definitely isn’t positive publicity and in competitive sports, you don’t want any kind of negative publicity.” Looking forward to next year, Chaney hopes that the team can return to the winning status of the program’s history. “We will continue to persevere,” Chaney said. “They are very strong student athletes, and they will persevere.”
