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| St. Kate's made the big announcement yesterday (Tuesday 5-5) that former standout Audra Clark is coming home to take the reigns of the Wildcat program. |
So I wanted to provide everyone with updates on a couple of coaching changes that have taken place in the MIAC in this young offseason. First, Don Mulhern stepped down at the helm of the St. Kate's program on March 26 after a nine-year stint at leading the Wildcats as personal health considerations and his desire to become a family caregiver were drivers in the decision. After interviewing a number of candidates, St. Kate's on Tuesday (5-5) decided on bringing a famous alum back home - Audra Clark (St. Kate's '19) - to take the reigns of the Wildcat program where she holds the leading scorer of all time along with being tops in assists and other records as well. After graduation, Clark joined former St. Kate's Head Coach Sean Pinkerton's staff at Oswego St for two seasons and also spent two seasons at another SUNYAC school - Cortland. She then moved to Bowling Green St where she served as Director of Player Personnel (and also reunited with former St. Kate's Coach Tim Kjar) and then this past season she was an assistant at Northern Illinois in DeKalb, IL. I'll admit that there's a part of me that wondered if her lack of previous head coaching experience might work against her. But when I look at what she did as not only a former standout player at St. Kate's but also her previous assistant coaching gigs (particularly with Pinkerton at Oswego St) and her immense knowledge of not only the game but particularly of this St. Kate's program and the fact that she played two seasons under Mulhern's tutelage, this is not only as close as you can get to a relatively seamless transition but also looking at it from a larger perspective, this is about as close to a home run hire that you can find for St. Kate's. Clark will bring a renewed energy and youthful enthusiasm to this team and I have no doubt that she'll be able to recruit well. And I think when you look at how MIAC Women's Basketball is now more competitive than ever with four teams making it to the Dance this last season, Clark is exactly the type of coach that you would want to help elevate the St. Kate's program as she knows this program inside and out and what it stands for. There's always challenges for a new, young coach coming into the ranks but I feel very confident that Clark will meet those challenges head-on and there's going to be some very exciting things in store for this Wildcat program with Clark now at the helm.
Meanwhile up on the shores of (always cold) Gitche Gumee, the St. Scholastica job opened up on on April 23rd when Jason Schmitz resigned to take an assistant coaching job at UST with Mandy Pearson now at the helm of that program after longtime Head Coach Ruth Sinn pulled the pin there after this last season. Schmitz, who spent five seasons at the helm of the Saints program, slowly but surely brought this program around since St. Scholastica joined the MIAC back in 2021. This last season, the Saints went 16-10 overall and 11-7 in conference play which included a huge upset of a Bethel team in mid-January that would make it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament and snared the sixth-seed in the MIAC Playoffs. Though their playoff journey was short as they would fall to said Bethel team in Arden Hills in the quarterfinal round, this was a team that showed a lot of promise and hope for the coming season so I guess in that regard, the timing of his departure is unfortunate. However, whomever St. Scholastica selects as a successor to take the reigns of this program, it won't be a situation where they're walking in and finding empty cupboards as the Saints will return a good nucleus from this last season. For the moment anyway, I haven't heard anything about possible candidates and/or whom they may have talked to. But, even though the Twin Ports may not necessarily be the desired destination for some, it's still a very good, very solid job and a chance to coach a program in one of the premier conferences in DIII Women's Basketball so it'll be interesting to see who St. Scholastica brings in.
