St. Ambrose Legends Retire - St. Ambrose University

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Bill Fennelly Head Coach, Iowa State University 1995–present Assistant Coach, St. Ambrose University 1976 After three seasons as a Fennelly assistant at Iowa State, Pingeton became head coach at Illinois State. There, her teams won three conference championships and advanced to a pair of NCAA tourneys from 2003–10. She is in her second season of rebuilding at Missouri and opened the season with a 351-175 career record. McDowell, a Rock Island native, played a lone SAU season under Pingeton in 1995–96, leading a 27-7 team in scoring, assists and steals. She launched her coaching career as an SAU student assistant the following year and then spent 11 years as an assistant at some of the top Division I programs in the country before becoming head coach at Western Michigan in 2008. She was let go in March after failing to turn around the WMU program. Fennelly also is a 500-game winner over 23 seasons of head coaching, 17 at Iowa State. He wasn’t looking to coach when he enrolled at St. Ambrose as a freshman, but Duax, a family friend, asked if he would be interested in helping launch a women’s program. “I really enjoyed it and appreciated that chance,” Fennelly said. “It got me hooked to do what I have done all my life.” Women’s basketball was just a club sport that inaugural season, but it has gone on to become arguably the most successful varsity program on campus with an 844-287 record over its first 35 campaigns, each of those a winning season.= “ There were so many people who were willing to put their arms around us, help guide us, mold us, lead us and mentor us. Those are the kind of people who are at St. Ambrose. They allow you to spread your wings and be successful. ” —Robin Becker Pingeton ’90 24
Tasha McDowell ’98 Head Coach, Western Michigan University 2008–12 Assistant Coach, St. Ambrose University 1997 Duax, Dave Day and Ken Buckles had solid success prior to Bluder’s arrival in ’84, but the program truly found legs with her on the bench and Becker on the floor. “Give a ton of credit to Lisa and to that administration when she was there,” Pingeton said. “She had to pave a new way of thinking. I think she brought that mindset of what it took to be successful in that program. That opened the door for me. And from there, it opened the door for Tasha.” Bluder said the support of Rogalski, Fox and then Vice President of Finance Ed Henkhaus ‘64 allowed her to create an attractive program for recruits via road trips to California and Florida, and games vs. big-school opponents like Notre Dame, Iowa State and Bradley. “I think St. Ambrose let us out of the box a little bit and let us try different things to be successful,” Bluder said. Rogalski said Bluder and her successors helped themselves by recruiting smart players who could supplement partial grants with academic scholarship money. Players also engaged in fundraising. And alumni benefactors helped with the beefed-up travel budgets as well, Rogalski said. Rogalski, though, said that putting women’s sports on the same level as men’s was important at St. Ambrose and said that meant going beyond federally mandated Title IX funding. “We wanted to make a commitment that was not just the routine one,” he said. Bluder and Pingeton said support at St. Ambrose went beyond the bottom line, citing a team/family approach that included the help of current men’s coach and athletic director Ray Shovlain ’79, ’82 MBA and countless others like Don “Duke” Schneider ’76, who televised games and coaches shows on SAUtv. “That wasn’t happening at that level then,” Pingeton said. “I don’t know if it happens now at that level, to be honest with you. “It’s amazing how a place like that can have such a huge impact on your life,’’ Pingeton added. “There were so many people there who were willing to put their arms around us, help guide us, mold us, lead us and mentor us. Those are the kind of people that are at St. Ambrose. They allow you to spread your wings and be successful.” Pingeton said key lessons were learned from wearing so many different hats while commanding a small college program. “You’re the equipment manager, you wash uniforms, there’s no task that is beneath you,” she said. “You really have to roll up your sleeves and do everything.” McDowell said one thing she learned in her two years with the program is that SAU coaches do everything the right way. “It was a school and a program of integrity,” she said, “and I try to run my program that same way.” Pingeton agreed, noting her central mission as a coach today is the same as it was for her first game as the queen Queen Bee. “I don’t care if I am coaching NAIA or Division I,” she said. “It’s about the opportunity to give back to a sport you love, really impact players’ lives and give them a chance to be successful.” 25
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