Midweek musings: Dubuque, UW-Superior make HC hires, High-profile D3 grad transfer commits to Chatham
It’s been said that Dubuque is a sleeping giant, capable of being the next program to rise up and challenge Wartburg in the American Rivers Conference. The facilities are top-notch and the recruiting base is favorable, with the university’s location on the eastern edge of Iowa, bordering both Wisconsin and Illinois.
But the Spartans added perhaps the biggest piece to the puzzle on Monday, announcing the program’s successor to head coach Justin Smith, who took a job outside of coaching after this past season. On the heels of her significant contributions to UW-Oshkosh’s Final Four run, Madeline (Staples) Jansen will take the reins of Dubuque’s program heading into 2025-26. Jansen spent four years on staff with Brad Fischer at Oshkosh, in which the Titans won the WIAC twice and made four NCAA Tournament appearances, including three trips to the Sweet 16.
“This program will be built for our student-athletes grounded in discipline, integrity, and pride — a culture our players, alumni, and the entire UD community can be proud of,” Jansen said in a statement from Dubuque.
It is a home-run hire for several reasons, Oshkosh’s sustained success being amongst the most obvious. The Titans went 93-27 during Jansen’s stint, a microcosm of a much longer stretch of winning that has been equally as impressive, and one she contributed to as a player from 2015-18. She contributed daily to that pursuit of raising the bar while playing in one of the nation’s most grueling conferences, something that will certainly be of benefit as she builds the culture she desires at Dubuque.
Much of her coaching career to this point has been spent at Oshkosh, as she joined the staff as a GA following her playing career, then returned in 2021 as an assistant after two years at D2 Lindenwood. Jansen also coached with the Wisconsin GLO, a pro women’s team in Oshkosh, and was part of the 2021 squad that captured a Global Women's Basketball Association championship.
We are excited to welcome Madeline and her family to our UD community," commented Edmonds. "Her success and connections as a player and coach will serve our basketball program well as we continue to grow and compete regionally and nationally. Jansen's traits as a mentor will serve our communities as we strive to live and model the mission of the University of Dubuque."
— Dubuque AD Nelson Edmonds
Dubuque will be in very good hands with Jansen at the helm. The Spartans return two starters—rising SR G Mia Miller and rising JR G Samantha McDonald—from a team that went 10-16 in 2024-25, and should bring back a total of five players who averaged at least 14.0 minutes per game. That includes center Brynn Haas, a Coe transfer who played in just 15 games but averaged 10.7 PPG and 19.3 min/game in her limited action.
2025 C2C POY Hannah Orloff heading to Chatham for 5th year
Hannah Orloff’s fourth and final season at Christopher Newport was highlighted by numerous accolades, including being named the Coast-to-Coast Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year along with her selection to the D3hoops.com All-Region 6 First Team.
Now she is taking her talent a bit further north. Yesterday afternoon, I broke the news that Orloff, per sources, will use her final year of eligibility at Chatham, one of the rising powers in the President’s Athletic Conference. She had interest from all levels and numerous Top 25-caliber D3 programs before settling on Chatham, a program with back-to-back 20-win seasons under head coach David Saur.
The magnitude of this move cannot be overstated. Orloff was quite possibly the most sought-after D3 grad transfer in this offseason cycle, coming off a career at CNU in which she established herself as a top-notch shot-blocker and formidable post player. The 6’3 forward averaged 15.0 min/game or more in each of her last three years within CNU’s up-tempo style of play. That said, her 2023-24 campaign spanned just six games before a season-ending injury, granting her the additional year of eligibility.
Orloff is likely to be a game-changer inside for Chatham, who has typically relied heavily on guard play but struggled with size and depth in the paint. And for a team that loses a significant portion of last year’s main rotation, Orloff’s presence will be especially impactful from both a basketball IQ and leadership standpoint, the kind of player capable of putting the team on her back. She is one of only 12 potential returning First Team All-Region players in the entire country heading into this upcoming season.
I’d also expect Orloff to make a push at the Chatham single-season blocks record, which currently sits at 40, set by Emily Schmidt in 2013-14. In both her sophomore and senior years at CNU, Orloff was well above that mark, averaging 60 blocks per season between 2022-23 and 2024-25. That defensively skill set revealed itself against CNU’s toughest competition on multiple occasions, notably swatting away seven shots in CNU’s national title game appearance against Transylvania in 2023. Orloff leaves Newport News with the fourth-most career blocks in program history.
Tufts, Ohio Wesleyan stand out as top open jobs
Of the 11 jobs currently open, no two carry as much weight as Tufts and Ohio Wesleyan. Institutionally, they are very different. Geographically, they vary significantly. But both share a recent track record of elite success, programs that we associate with winning and clearly have the platform to produce deep tournament runs. I covered Jill Pace’s departure from Tufts in a prior newsletter, but OWU’s Stacey Ungashick Lobdell has joined a growing group of D3 head coaches within this offseason cycle to move to Division I, a move that naturally created shockwaves within the D3 WBB community.
This past year, OWU’s senior-led squad made a run to the Sweet 16, going 25-4 overall and a perfect 14-0 in NCAC play. They were prolific, and by the end, had both the NCAC’s all-time scoring leader and all-time assists leader on the floor at the same time in seniors Kasey Schipfer and Elizabeth Homan. Lobdell assembled a high-achieving group, and pushed them to an especially memorable campaign. It was OWU’s third 20-win season in the last four years, and over Lobdell’s final five seasons as head coach, the Battling Bishops posted a 95-31 record. She now heads south to the University of North Florida as the program’s associate head coach, getting her first D1 coaching experience in the same state that she played her college ball.
Now the question becomes where OWU goes from here. It’s obvious that the group OWU had this past season doesn’t come along very often—Schipfer and Homan were both generational talents within their environment—but there’s little doubt that last season’s success can be parlayed into the immediate future, keeping OWU within the larger national conversation. As a result, that places increased pressure on getting this hire right, and setting up OWU women’s hoops for the future. While I don’t have any inside info, I expect that multiple current D3 head coaches have interest in the position. Of course, there are always up-and-coming assistant coaches, including current OWU interim HC Susan Smith, who would be well-equipped to take over the program as well. This is definitely a search to keep tabs on, and because we’re already in mid-June, I’d anticipate this one is moving fast.
UW-Superior tabs Parsons as head coach
Madeline Jansen isn’t the only WIAC assistant to have been named a head coach within the last week, as UW-Superior took a similar route in its hiring process, appointing UW-Stevens Point assistant Eveline Parsons to its HC role. Parsons, who spent the last three seasons in Stevens Point, made a significant impact in the Pointers’ rise back to relevance within the WIAC. UWSP made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in nearly a decade this past season, winning 18 games, including Top 25 wins over UW-Whitewater and UW-Stout.
I am beyond excited to join the Yellowjacket family and lead the women's basketball program at UW-Superior. I would like to thank Nick Bursik and the committee for the opportunity to be part of a culture that values community and relationships in addition to competitive excellence. I can't wait to connect with the team and begin this new journey together."
— Eveline Parsons in a statement from UW-Superior
Superior did a fantastic job with this hire, especially with it being a pretty impactful time for the program. This past season, Yellowjackets went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 after winning the UMAC Tournament, and that kind of on-court success often has potential to carry over to the recruiting trail. Being able to use the accomplishments of the 2024-25 team to attract future talent is how sustained winning becomes woven into the fabric of a program, and it goes without saying that Superior is in an excellent spot to do just that in the current moment.
That’s one area where I think Parsons’ experience in the WIAC will prove beneficial, as she contributed firsthand to UWSP’s rapid upward trajectory within a conference that already had multiple Top 15-caliber programs. UWSP was just 3-11 in the WIAC in 2022-23. Three years later, they went 8-6. Superior doesn’t need a turnaround, but the Yellowjackets will likely need some form of a rebuild in Year 1. Having someone who was a major part of the relentless recruiting that paved the way to UWSP’s NCAA Tournament appearance (and 11-0 start to 2024-25) could be huge, as Parsons has the knowledge of what it takes to build up a roster with the right pieces and fits for the program she wants to create.
I plan to start diving into analysis on some non-conference schedules in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. We’re officially into that part of the summer where it seems at least one new schedule is released each day, and man, do we have some intriguing non-conference slates for 2025-26. So be looking for that!
On that note, also be sure to check out Scott Peterson’s latest D3 WBB stats and analysis on D3data.weebly.com. This includes his recently updated roster tracker, which looks at the percentages of returners (and non-returners) for each and every team within D3, an extremely helpful tool as we begin gaining a better idea of the national picture heading into next season.