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Brenda Frese
Title	Head coach
College	Maryland
Sport	Women's college basketball
Career highlights
Overall	169-81
Championships
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship (2006)
Awards
Associated Press National Coach of the Year (2002) Big Ten Coach of the Year (2002) MAC Coach of the Year (2000)
Playing career
1989-1993	Arizona
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1999-2001 2001-2002 2002-current	Ball State Minnesota Maryland

Brenda Frese (born 1970) is the current women's basketball team head coach at the University of Maryland. During her four years as head coach, she reversed the team's losing record and guided it to win the 2006 Women's National Championship.

Contents 1 Pre-Maryland Coaching Career 2 College Park Renaissance 3 The 2006 Championship win 4 Book release 5 Post-Championship 6 Personal life 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Pre-Maryland Coaching Career

While injured as a player at the University of Arizona, Brenda Frese volunteered as an assistant coach at PIMA Community College in Tucson, Arizona and was hooked. Upon graduation, she immediately started to pursue a career in coaching, driving across the country to attend an NCAA Final Four and working various basketball camps. Frese's career officially started in 1994 as an assistant coach at Kent State and Iowa State and then spent three years as head coach at Ball State and Minnesota. In her very first game as a head coach, Frese led Ball State to an upset win over Minnesota. Less than two years later, Minnesota hired Frese as their new head coach. During her 2001-02 season at Minnesota, she led a one-year turnaround of 8-20 to 22-8, one of the biggest in NCAA history. Minnesota made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA Championship that year, and Frese was named the AP National Coach of the Year for 2002. Minnesota's fan base quickly grew and the team was able to make a move to start playing its games in the same arena as the men's team. After turning around the MInnesota program, Frese became a sought after coach and drew interest from Maryland, Ohio State and Florida. Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow sealed the deal the night of the 2002 Men's NCAA Basketball Championship game, in which Maryland defeated Indiana for the national championship.

[edit] College Park Renaissance

When Frese arrived at Maryland prior to the 2002-2003 season, she brought with her the buzz of a rising star in the women's hoops coaching fraternity, as well as a remarkable recruiting acumen. Her first highly coveted recruits, Shay Doron and Kalika France, marked the beginning of an ever-expanding stream of blue chip talent being funneled to College Park.

Despite winning only 10 games in her first season, Frese, the 2002 AP National Coach of the Year, has quickly returned Maryland to national prominence. As of November 2007, Frese has guided Maryland to an overall record of 180-60 (.750) including six consecutive NCAA tournament berths, five consecutive 20-win seasons, four 25+ win seasons, the program's fourth NCAA Final Four appearance and the 2006 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship. Maryland received its first-ever No. 1 preseason national ranking in 2006-2007. The Terps remained in the top spot in the polls for 10-consecutive weeks. To begin the 2007-08 season, Maryland was ranked #4 in both major polls and was selected the top preseason pick for the 2007-08 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball season by a vote of the ACC media. Frese led Maryland to the 2008-09 ACC Regular Season and 2009 ACC Tournament Championships.

Player-wise, as of the spring of 2009, all 20 seniors to play for Frese at Maryland graduated. Frese's high octane Maryland program has also produced four "Top Ten" WNBA Draft Picks- Crystal Langhorne (2008), Laura Harper (2008), Marissa Coleman (2009) and Kristi Toliver (2009). Shay Doron was a 2nd round pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft- a remarkable accomplishment considering her final two college choices were Harvard and an at the time rebuilding Maryland program.

[edit] The 2006 Championship win

Frese coached Maryland's Terrapins to an impressive 34-4 record during the 2006 season. The team finished the season by winning the 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. In the final game, Maryland's Kristi Toliver tied the game with a jumper over center Alison Bales with six seconds left and forced Duke's team into overtime, eventually winning by a score of 78-75. She is the 5th youngest women's coach to win a national championship.

[edit] Book release

In October 2006, Frese and writer Chris King released a book chronicling the Terrapins' rise to their 2006 championship win entitled "Overtime Is Our Time." The 200-page book, published by Terrapin State Publishing, earned acclaim by national TV basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli.

[edit] Post-Championship

The Terp women were ranked #1 in major preseason polls entering the 2006-2007 season, a first for the program. They were also set to debut star Tennessee transfer Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood, who was limited by tendinitis in both knees. The team, however, did not deliver a performance as stirring or convincing as in their championship year; they went 0–3 in the regular season against ACC rivals North Carolina and Duke, were eliminated by the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament and were upset in the NCAA Tournament's round of 32 by Ole Miss. Maryland had beaten Ole Miss decisively during the regular season at a tournament in the Bahamas.

Maryland spent much of the 2007–08 season ranked among the nation's top five teams and finished the season 33–4. The Terps advanced to the NCAA's Elite Eight, where they lost an entertaining, high-scoring affair to Stanford, 98–87. During the season, Coach Frese gave birth to twin boys- Markus William Thomas and Tyler Joseph Thomas- on February 17, 2008. That same day, Maryland won on the road at Duke, 76–69, giving Maryland a sweep of the regular season series. Maryland won the preseason WNIT, defeating LSU in the championship game, 75–62. Kristi Toliver won the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given annually to the nation's top point guard. Crystal Langhorne was voted ACC Player of the Year. Both Langhorne and Toliver were named State Farm All-Americans. Langhorne and fellow senior Laura Harper were top 10 picks in the WNBA Draft.

In 2008-09, after losing five seniors and dropping the season opener at Texas Christian University, Frese was able to coach the team to both the ACC Regular Season and Tournament championships, as well as an NCAA Elite Eight appearance and 31-5 record. Kristi Toliver was named ACC Player of the Year, Marissa Coleman won ACC Tournament MVP and freshman Lynetta Kizer won ACC Rookie of the Year. Three freshmen under Frese have won the ACC's Rookie of the Year award (Langhorne, Coleman and Kizer). Coleman and Toliver were selected #2 and #3 overall in the '09 WNBA Draft.

[edit] Personal life

Frese married Mark Thomas in 2005.

In the 2007 offseason, Coach Frese learned she was pregnant with twins. She gave birth to twin boys, Markus William Thomas and Tyler Joseph Thomas, on February 17, 2008 ^[1].

[edit] See also

Brenda Frese's Bio on the Maryland Women's Basketball website
AP article on Frese, her career, and the championship win
Biographical page at UM's athletics site
Brenda Frese Feature in PressBox after 2006 National Championship

[edit] References

1. ^ Reproduction - baltimoresun.com