SPORTS
UPANOTCH
Ronna Greenberg
has taken her game
up to the
college ranks.
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
fter three successful
seasons as West
Bloomfield High
School's girls bas-
ketball coach, Ron-
na Greenberg has
accepted the job of
assistant women's basketball
coach at the University of
Detroit-Mercy..
The Lakers were 57-16
under Greenberg. In 1989,
West Bloomfield was the
undefeated Metro Suburban
Activities Association
(MSAA) champion and a
state Class A finalist.
"It was the right time for
me to go," Greenberg ex-
plained, "just because the
players who started when I
started were gone. We had a
goal —to win the MSAA title
— and we achieved the goal.
And it's time to move on to
something new."
At U-D, Greenberg will
assist second-year head
coach Fred Procter. Green-
berg and Procter have
known each other for 10
years and have worked
together at several basket-
ball camps.
"She's got a good basket-
ball mind," Procter said, ad-
ding that Greenberg's duties
will include recruiting, team
conditioning and on-the-floor
coaching during practices
and games. "She's versatile
enough that she can handle
all those things and be effec-
tive at each one."
Greenberg is pleased with
her coaching duties, since
many college assistants are
limited primarily to
recruiting. "I'm going to
have a say in what's going
on," Greenberg said. "Not
much is going to change
from my responsibilities
when I was at West Bloom-
A
field. Obviously, I'm moving
down a few inches on the
bench, but I think generally
my responsibilites are going
to be pretty much the same
and we're going to be work-
ing on a pretty parallel
level."
Greenberg has never been
an assistant coach — the
West Bloomfield post was
her first coaching job — but
she feels that the transition
will be smooth because of
her long working relation-
ship with Procter.
Greenberg will retain a tie
to West Bloomfield by
teaching a law class at the
high school. She will also at-
tend classes at U-D, where
she is pursuing a master's
degree in Collegiate Profes-
sional Sports management.
She also hopes to complete
her law degree at the school.
Despite her rapid rise in
the coaching profession,
Greenberg's education
leaves her with several long-
term career avenues. Her
move into college coaching,
she said, allows her to "test
the waters a little bit to see
if that's what I want to do. I
"Here the main
objective is to win,
whereas at the
high school level,
winning is
important but it's
not paramount."
have some options. Maybe
after four years or so I'll
make a decision on whether
I want to go into the (college)
head coaching ranks, or stay
where I'm at, or just forget
about it."
For now, Greenberg is
"looking forward to the
challenge and the higher
level of competition. Because
here the main objective is to
win, whereas at the high
school level, winning is im-
portant but it's not para-
mount."
Winning may not come as
quickly at U-D as it did at
West Bloomfield. U-D was
13-15 last year and will put
an inexperienced team on
the floor this season. "We're
going to struggle some just
because we have a lot of
young kids that we brought
in this year," Procter said.
But both coaches are op-
timistic about the future.
"In the next couple years I
think we're going to be a
team to watch," Greenberg
said.
U-D opens its season in
Buffalo on Nov. 22.
Ronna discusses
strategy with the
Lady Titans.
❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
51