16 - Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Values push coach to dream Recruiting key
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan women's basketball
coach Kevin Borseth was in his
new office in Ann Arbor when the
phone rang.
Like he always has, Borseth
answered.
But now he doesn't have to. His
secretary told him just to let it
ring; she'll take care of that kind
of stuff.
Having his first secretary is
just one of the many adjustments
Borseth will have to make coming
to a premier athletic institution
- the school Borseth has always
loved.
The first televised sporting
event Borseth said he ever saw
was the 1965 NCAA men's bas-
ketball championship game. Gail
Goodrich (24.8 points per game
that season) led UCLA to 91-80
victory over Cazzie Russell's
(25.7) Michigan squad at Memo-
rial Coliseum in Portland.
So where has Borseth been
between watching the Wolverines
on TV and becoming their eighth
women's basketball coach?
Borseth comes to Michigan
following a nine-year stint at
Wisconsin-Green Bay, where his
teams finished first or tied for first
in the Horizon League (formerly
the Midwestern Conference)
each season. The Phoenix went
to the NCAA Tournament seven
of those years and the WNIT the
other two.
Wisconsin-Green Bay reached
the second round of the NCAA
Tournament last season after
upsetting ninth-seeded New
Mexico.
When the Phoenix fell to top-
seeded Connecticut in the second
round, the writing was on the
wall for Borseth's departure. Wis-
consin-Green Bay's three leading
scorers were all seniors and Bors-
eth was publicly upset with the
difficulties of playing in a smaller
conference.
"Other (Horizon League)
schools need to take their non-
conference games seriously and
try to win those games," Borseth
told the Appleton Post-Crescent.
"They're all building for the con-
ference tournament and trying to
play a bunch of players in the non-
conference games. We play to win
those games."
Borseth accepted the women's
basketball coaching position at
Colorado in 2005. He flew to
Boulder, Colo., but decided to
back out of the job hours before
the scheduled press conference.
He said Friday his wife's father
and grandmother were ill and he
was uncomfortable being a plane
ride away from them. They have
both since passed away.
Connie Borseth, Kevin's wife,
said in addition to Colorado, Cen-
tral Michigan, Indiana and possi-
bly Cincinnati showed interest in
Kevin at some point.
At his inaugural press confer-
ence at Michigan, Kevin Borseth
spoke of the benefits of the move
up. At Wisconsin-Green Bay, he
said he could get honorable-men-
tion players and maybe even an
all-state player. At Michigan, he
can get all-Americans.
Prior to coaching the Phoenix,
Borseth spent 11 years at Michi-
gan Tech, leading the Huskies to
a 225-97 record (.699).
"He basically came into Michi-
gan Tech when the program was
not very successful, on the low
end of their conference year, and
he turned it into a national power-
house," said John Barnes, Michi-
gan Tech's current coach and a
friend of Borseth.
The first five years of Borseth's
coaching career were spent at
Gogebic Community College in
Ironwood.
When he started there in 1982,
Borseth said the team had just
two players - and one had mono.
He had to convince nine play-
ers who were already enrolled in
school to join. That team didn't
have the best record, but Borseth
said it was the most fun he's had
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
I have to tell you, some people ask 'Are you
the women's basketball coach?' And Igener-
ally say, 'Iam she: Sometimes I almost walk
into women's bathrooms because I've been
doing this for such a long period offtime."
- Kevin Borseth
Michigan women's basketball coach
"The biggest challenge (for Borseth) is the
perception of Michigan basketball as a whole
right now.... The high school basketball play-
ers' perception of Michigan right now prob-
ably isn't the highest."
-John Barnes
Michigan Tech women's basketball coach
coaching.
Now Borseth fulfills a dream by
making Michigan his fourth stop
in his coaching path.
"He's taken those things that
have made him successful at this
level, and hasn't changed as a
person," Barnes said. "He has
stayed true to his values and his
ways, and that's taken him to the
top everywhere he's been - from
Gogebic to Michigan Tech to Wis-
consin-Green Bay to the Universi-
ty of Michigan. I don't have doubt
in my mind that he's going to turn
that program around and make
it a Big Ten and national power-
house."
to Blue's future
CHRIS HERRING
On Women's Basketball
Most people in their right mind
wouldn't question the hiring of
women's basketball coach Kevin
Borseth with his impressive track
record.
If that's the case, it might be time
for fans to start acting a little crazy.
The former Wisconsin-Green Bay
coach compiled an impressive 216-
62 record in nine years, winning
a conference championship every
season.
And if that isn't enough of
an accomplishment on its own,
Borseth won 225 games at
Michigan Tech prior to his suc-
cess at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
So is there any reason to think Bors-
eth won't be a solid replacement
for retired coach Cheryl Burnett?
Absolutely.
There is akey similarity between
Borseth and Burnett: They both
come to Michigan after enjoying
success in mid-major conferences.
I'll be the first to say there is
nothing inherently wrong with
that. Both Borseth and Burnett did
incredible things at their respec-
tive schools - much more than
Michigan's program has ever done.
Michigan's athletic department
was in a similar situation four years
ago, looking to replace Sue Gue-
vara, who had resigned.
Burnett's hiring looked like a
great one, as she was an accom-
plished name in the coaching ranks.
In 15 years, Burnett led Southwest
Missouri State to more than 300
wins, 10 NCAA Tournamentberths
and two Final Four appearances.
But now, four years later, it's
difficult to tell which was more
extreme - the height of the bar fans
set for Burnett's program when she
took over or the depth of the fall
her team took in so little time.
In four years, Burnett compiled
a measly 35-83 record, winning just
10 games in Big Ten play. Borseth
won at least 12 conference games in
each of his nine seasons at Wiscon-
sin-Green Bay.
But coaching at the Big Ten level
is clearly different than doing the
same in the Missouri Valley Con-
ference or the Horizon League.
The same can be said about
recruiting.
You generally need better play-
ers at this level to win. With that
said, new coaches must either learn
the area quickly or already have a
name established for themselves
locally.
Burnett had no ties to the state
of Michigan before coming to Ann
Arbor. Borseth, on the other hand,
coached at Michigan Tech to start
his career. A Bessemer native,
Borseth claims he's "always been a
Michigan Man."
But Borseth will no longer be
recruiting against schools like
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Instead,
he'll have to convince elite in-state
talent to choose Michigan over
recently successful Michigan State,
which has made five consecutive
NCAA Tournaments.
Though the gap between the
programs has grown over the last
five years, it's important to remem-
ber that Michigan State used to be
no better than Michigan. Prior to
2003, the Spartans had just four
seasons with 20 wins or better.
But just like how Michigan State
improved with a coaching change,
the Wolverines can, too.
The fact Borseth wants help
with his Michigan ties doesn't hurt
either.
The acquisition of newly hired
associate head coach Dawn Plit-
zuweit, who left her job as Grand
Valley State's head coach to come
to Michigan, will aid Borseth in his
recruiting efforts.
Borseth should try to convince
Autumn Rademacher, who was his
assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay,
to work on his staff Rademacher,
a Traverse City native, played at
Detroit and was an assistant at
Western Michigan for sevenyears.
But regardless of what Borseth
does, it's clear recruiting will be a
huge determinant in the program's
success - just ask Michigan Tech
coach John Barnes.
"He's definitely got a challenge
ahead of him," said Barnes, who
was an assistant under Borseth at
Tech. "He did a great job by get-
ting coach Plitzuweit from Grand
Valley to come with him because
she's an outstanding recruiter and
knows the circuits very well. But I
think recruiting is going to be a big
factor."
If Borseth can excel at recruiting
in the area, he can finally put the
fans' minds at ease.
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