Pre-Maryland Coaching Career
While injured as a player at the University of Arizona, Brenda Frese volunteered as an assistant coach at PIMA Community College in Tucson, Arizona. Upon graduation, she immediately began to pursuing a career in coaching, driving across the country to attend an NCAA Final Four and working various basketball camps. Frese's career officially started in 1994 as an assistant coach at Kent State and Iowa State and then spent three years as head coach at Ball State and Minnesota. In her very first game as a head coach, Frese led Ball State to an upset win over Minnesota. Less than two years later, Minnesota hired Frese as their new head coach. During her 2001-02 season at Minnesota, she led a one-year turnaround of 8-20 to 22-8, one of the biggest in NCAA history. Minnesota made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA Championship that year, and Frese was named the AP National Coach of the Year for 2002. Minnesota's fan base quickly grew and the team was able to make a move to start playing its games in the same arena as the men's team. After turning around the Minnesota program, Frese became a sought after coach and drew interest from Maryland, Ohio State and Florida. Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow sealed the deal the night of the 2002 Men's NCAA Basketball Championship game, in which Maryland defeated Indiana for the national championship.
Frese was awarded the US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Coach of the Year award in 2002.
Read more about this topic: Brenda Frese
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