Indiana University Athletics
Bennett To Coach Team USA (5-1-03)
5/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
May 1, 2003
Bennett to Represent USA
|
|
Bloomington, Ind. - Indiana head women's basketball coach Kathi Bennett was named as an assistant coach on the USA Basketball Pan America Games team competing this summer.
Selected to the position by the USA Basketball Committee, Bennett is one of two assistant coaches (Albany's Trina Patterson being the other) serving under head coach Debbie Ryan (Virginia). She will be making her first-ever appearance as a coach representing USA Basketball and joins Bob Knight (1984 Olympic Head Coach) as Indiana University coaches selected to represent USA Basketball in international competition.
"I am so excited. It is such an honor and I am going to try my best," Bennett said. "This is a special honor and I am very thankful for the opportunity. This is a great chance to learn under Coach Ryan and the experience is going to be wonderful."
Bennett has ties to the Pan American Games, as her younger brother Tony (a former Charlotte Hornet guard and current Washington State men's assistant coach) was a starter on the bronze-medal winning USA squad at the 1991 Pan American Games.
Bennett just finished her third season at Indiana, where she has led the Hoosiers to a 20-win season, an NCAA Tournament appearance and a Big Ten Tournament Championship. During her time at Indiana, Bennett has sparked an interest in Hoosier women's basketball never seen before in Bloomington.
The daughter of former Wisconsin and current Washington State men's head coach Dick Bennett, Kathi Bennett donated $5,000 of her own money to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation on January 24, 2003 after the Hoosiers shattered the Assembly Hall single-game attendance record by drawing 7,986 fans to a game against Wisconsin. Under Bennett, Indiana averaged 2,000 fans per home game for the first time in school history during the 2002-03 season.
Bennett found her team in the national spotlight during the 2001-02 season, when she was involved in an auto accident that left her hospitalized with a broken neck during the season. Miraculously, Bennett returned to the sidelines just 16 days later to coach her team for its final regular-season contest.
Wearing an eight-pound halo device, Bennett then coached the team as it headed to the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. She led the fifth-seeded Hoosiers to what is the most storied run in Big Ten Tournament history, upsetting No. 4 seed Iowa, No. 1 seed Purdue and No. 2 seed Penn State to emerge as the Big Ten Tournament champions.
Bennett owns a 274-143 career record in her 15 years as a head coach at Marycrest (Iowa) College, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Evansville and Indiana. She has won six conference titles and has made eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a perfect 31-0 season and a Division II national championship in 1996 while at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
The Pan American Games will be played in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Opening ceremonies are on August 1, with the tournament being played through August 9. Team USA owns six gold medals, three silvers and two bronze medals in 11 Pan American games, compiling a 62-10 record (.861 pct.) Bennett will have a chance to lead Team USA to its first gold medal since 1987.
The tournament consists of six nations. Following round-robin preliminary round play, the top four teams will advance to the medal round to determine first through fourth place. The competing nations are still to be decided, as is the roster for Team USA.
Trials to determine the 12 players on the team will be held from May 22-25 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Training camp is expected to begin approximately July 15 at a site to be announced.
Thursday, August 13
Thursday, August 13
Wednesday, August 12
Wednesday, August 12