Paula Buscher
| Paula Buscher | |
|---|---|
| Sport(s) | Basketball |
| Current position | |
| Title | Head women's coach |
| Team | SIU Edwardsville Cougars |
| Playing career | |
| 1981-83 1983-85 |
Illinois Central College Missouri State University |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1986-88 1988-97 1997-98 1998-2000 2000-12 2013-present |
Illinois State (asst.) Nebraska Omaha (UNO) (asst.) Mankato State UNO Bradley SIUE |
Paula Buscher is an American college basketball coach and the current head women's coach at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. The SIU Edwardsville Cougars are members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and compete in the NCAA's Division I.[1]
Biography
A native of Peoria, Illinois, Buscher played basketball and softball at Peoria's Richwoods High School, with her basketball team finishing second at the 1981 IHSA Class AA state Tournament. She then played both sports at Illinois Central College (ICC) under the legendary coach Lorene Ramsey, a member of both the National Softball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. At ICC, Buscher's teams finished fifth and third in the NJCAA national tournament, and won the 1982 NJCAA softball national championship. She was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 as a member of that championship softball team;[2] she was additionally inducted as an individual in 2015.[3]
Buscher then attended Missouri State University, once more playing both basketball and softball for the Missouri State Bears. She earned her bachelor's degree from Missouri State in 1986. She then moved on to Illinois State University, spending two seasons as graduate assistant coach of the Illinois State Redbirds women's basketball team and earning her Master's degree in athletic administration in 1988.[4]
Coaching career
After earning her Master's degree, Buscher's next nine years were spent as assistant coach for the Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks women's basketball team at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). In 1997, she accepted her first head coaching job at Mankato State (now Minnesota State University, Mankato) leading the Mankato State Mavericks to a 17-10 record, which, following the previous season's 7-29 season, remains one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA Division II history. After only one season at Mankato State, Buscher returned to UNO as the schools head women's basketball coach.
Following a successful second season at UNO, she was hired as head coach of the Bradley Braves women's basketball team at Bradley University in her home town of Peoria. In twelve seasons at Bradley, Buscher raised the Braves women's program from their previous status as perennial doormats in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) into a contender in the MVC. Her 2006-10 squad won the program's first win in the MVC tournament. The 2008-09 team set the school women's record for most wins with 21. The 2009-10 received the program's first bid to a post-season tournament and won the first post-season victory in the Women's Basketball Invitational (MBI). The 2011-12 team also advanced to the second round of the MBI. Her 167 wins is the most for any Bradley women's coach.
In June 2012, Buscher was named the fifth head coach of the SIU Edwardsville Cougars women's basketball team.[4]
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mankato State Mavericks (Div.II)[5] (North Central Conference) (1997–1998) | |||||||||
| 1997-98 | Mankato State | 17-10 | 8-10 | 6th of 10 | |||||
| Mankato State: | 17-10 | 8-10 | |||||||
| Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks (Div.II)[5] (North Central Conference) (1998–2000) | |||||||||
| 1998-99 | UNO | 11-16 | 6-12 | 7th of 10 | |||||
| 1999-2000 | UNO | 15-12 | 7-11 | 7th of 10 | |||||
| UNO: | 26-28 | 13-23 | |||||||
| Bradley Braves[6] (Missouri Valley Conference) (2000–2012) | |||||||||
| 2000-01 | Bradley | 10-17 | 5-13 | 8th | |||||
| 2001-02 | Bradley | 16-12 | 7-11 | 7th | |||||
| 2002-03 | Bradley | 13-15 | 9-9 | 6th | |||||
| 2003-04 | Bradley | 9-19 | 7-11 | 6th (tie) | |||||
| 2004-05 | Bradley | 15-13 | 8-10 | 6th (tie) | |||||
| 2005-06 | Bradley | 9-19 | 5-13 | 9th (tie) | |||||
| 2006-07 | Bradley | 12-19 | 7-11 | 7th | |||||
| 2007-08 | Bradley | 12-18 | 6-12 | 8th | |||||
| 2008-09 | Bradley | 21-10 | 11-7 | 4th | |||||
| 2009-10 | Bradley | 17-14 | 12-6 | 3rd (tie) | 1-1 (WBI) | ||||
| 2010-11 | Bradley | 15-16 | 7-11 | 8th | |||||
| 2011-12 | Bradley | 18-16 | 7-11 | 8th | 1-1 (WBI) | ||||
| Bradley: | 167-188 | 91-125 | |||||||
| SIU Edwardsville Cougars[7] (Ohio Valley Conference) (2012–present) | |||||||||
| 2012-13 | SIUE | 16-15 | 9-7 | 3rd West | |||||
| 2013-14 | SIUE | 11-20 | 7-9 | t-3rd West | |||||
| 2014-15 | SIUE | 19–12 | 13–3 | 2nd | |||||
| SIUE: | 46–47 | 29–19 | |||||||
| Total: | 256–273 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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References
- ↑ "Paula Buscher Named SIUE Women's Basketball Head Coach". ovcsports.com
- ↑ "1982 ICC SOFTBALL TEAM". GPSHOF. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ↑ "2014 (sic) Individual Inductees". GPSHOF. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Bio - Paula Buscher". SIUE.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Women's Basketball - Record Book.
- ↑ "2012-13 Women's Basketball Media Guide". Missouri Valley Conference.
- ↑ "2012-13 SIUE Women's Basketball Schedule". SIUE.
External links
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