The Division III women’s basketball season may have drawn to a close last week in Columbus, but the Division I tournament, more commonly referred to as “March Madness”, is just getting going.
You missed a 10th head coach who had a very successful head coaching start at the D-III level before moving to D-I.
The head coach of the A-10 champion Richmond Spiders, Aaron Roussell, got his coaching start at D-III University of Chicago in the University Athletic Association from 2004-2012. Initially hired as an assistant back in September, 2004, to now current Wellesley head coach Jennifer Kroll, Roussell became the U.Chicago head coach shortly thereafter when Kroll decided to take the St. Lawrence head coaching job. Roussell became the winningest coach in U.Chicago history, leading Chicago to its first ranking in any national poll. Under Roussell's tutelage, Chicago ranked as high as #1 in the WBCA poll. Chicago won 3 outright UAA titles-- 2 of which came on perfect 14-0 league seasons. Chicago made 4 NCAA D-III tournament appearances in Roussell's tenure there, advancing to the second weekend each time with 1 Elite Eight appearance. Roussell also coached Jostens Trophy winner Taylor Simpson during his tenure at U.Chicago as well. Roussell went 161-50 at U.Chicago before first taking the Bucknell head coaching job in the Patriot League before moving on to the Richmond head coaching job in the Atlantic 10. Roussell also had successful seasons at D-I Bucknell as well, leading Bucknell to Patriot League AQs and NCAA D-I tournament appearances prior to his current head coaching job at Richmond. Richmond ended up the #10 seed in their region in this year's D-I tournament and will play #7 seed Duke on Friday.
Hey Allen, Thanks for the note. The updated version includes Aaron. That was definitely a miss on my part. He had a ton of success at Chicago and it is incredible he took a team that had never been nationally ranked to a No. 1 ranking just a couple years after he was hired. Impressive run there before going to Bucknell and now to Richmond. So many great coaches have come from the D3 level. It is fantastic to see.
You missed a 10th head coach who had a very successful head coaching start at the D-III level before moving to D-I.
The head coach of the A-10 champion Richmond Spiders, Aaron Roussell, got his coaching start at D-III University of Chicago in the University Athletic Association from 2004-2012. Initially hired as an assistant back in September, 2004, to now current Wellesley head coach Jennifer Kroll, Roussell became the U.Chicago head coach shortly thereafter when Kroll decided to take the St. Lawrence head coaching job. Roussell became the winningest coach in U.Chicago history, leading Chicago to its first ranking in any national poll. Under Roussell's tutelage, Chicago ranked as high as #1 in the WBCA poll. Chicago won 3 outright UAA titles-- 2 of which came on perfect 14-0 league seasons. Chicago made 4 NCAA D-III tournament appearances in Roussell's tenure there, advancing to the second weekend each time with 1 Elite Eight appearance. Roussell also coached Jostens Trophy winner Taylor Simpson during his tenure at U.Chicago as well. Roussell went 161-50 at U.Chicago before first taking the Bucknell head coaching job in the Patriot League before moving on to the Richmond head coaching job in the Atlantic 10. Roussell also had successful seasons at D-I Bucknell as well, leading Bucknell to Patriot League AQs and NCAA D-I tournament appearances prior to his current head coaching job at Richmond. Richmond ended up the #10 seed in their region in this year's D-I tournament and will play #7 seed Duke on Friday.
Hey Allen, Thanks for the note. The updated version includes Aaron. That was definitely a miss on my part. He had a ton of success at Chicago and it is incredible he took a team that had never been nationally ranked to a No. 1 ranking just a couple years after he was hired. Impressive run there before going to Bucknell and now to Richmond. So many great coaches have come from the D3 level. It is fantastic to see.
Great research Riley! It’s pretty clear - if you want to be a high level coach, you’d be smart to start playing or coaching D3