Theresa Grentz

Theresa Marie Shank Grentz (born March 24, 1952) is an American college basketball coach.

Her coaching career spanned five decades, with over 680 career wins, multiple national and conference coaching awards, and a national championship.

She is a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Grentz grew up in Glenolden, Pennsylvania and played college basketball at Immaculata College, where she earned three All-American honors and was part of three consecutive AIAW national championship teams from 1972 to 1974.

Under coach Cathy Rush, Grentz helped Immaculata win three straight AIAW National Championships between 1972 and 1974.

In 1973, Grentz was named to the team representing the US at the 1973 World University Games competition in Moscow, Soviet Union.

It was the eighth such competition, but the first one in which the USA competed in women's basketball.

The USA team had to play the Soviet Union in the opening round, and lost to the hosts, 92–43.

The USA team bounced back and won their next two games.

After preliminary play, the teams moved into medal rounds, where the first round loss carried over.

In the medal round, the USA won their next three games, including a match against 6–0 Cuba, which the USA won 59–44.

That sent them to the gold medal game, but against the host Soviet Union, now 7–0.

The USSR won to capture the gold medal, while the USA finished with a silver in their first competition.

The women's basketball program at Saint Joseph's had only begun play in 1973.

After graduating from college, Grentz was head coach at a recently created women's basketball program at Saint Joseph's College from 1974 to 1976.

She graduated with a B.S. in Biology in 1974.

While a student at Immaculata, she played basketball for the Immaculata Mighty Macs.

The March 23, 1974 title game was the first ever live coverage of a US women's basketball game.

She scored over 1,000 points in her career and earned three first-team All-American honors.

Immaculata retired her jersey, number 12.

She was named the AMF Collegiate Player of the Year.

After graduating from Immaculata in 1974, Grentz began teaching sixth grade at an elementary school, while working as a part-time assistant coach at Saint Joseph's College (now University) in Philadelphia.

Grentz later became head coach and compiled a 27–5 record in two seasons from 1974 to 1976, including an appearance in the 1976 AIAW Large College Regionals.

From 1976 to 1995, Grentz was head women's basketball coach at Rutgers University–New Brunswick during a time when the Rutgers program was transitioning from the AIAW to NCAA levels.

From 1976 to 1995, Grentz was head coach at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, where she became the first full-time women's basketball head coach in the U.S. In her first six seasons, Rutgers qualified for the AIAW Tournament every season and won the 1982 AIAW national championship.

In the 1980s, Rutgers moved from the AIAW to NCAA Division I, starting as an independent, non-conference member in 1981–82 before joining the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1983.

Grentz led Rutgers to the final AIAW national championship in 1982, after which Rutgers moved to the NCAA and joined the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1983.

Rutgers won eight Atlantic 10 regular season and four Atlantic 10 tournament championships and appeared in nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments, and Grentz earned four Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors and three national honors.

In the Atlantic 10, Grentz led Rutgers to eight regular season conference titles in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1994 and four conference tournament titles in 1986, 1987, 1993, and 1994.

Outside of college basketball, Grentz also was head coach for the United States women's national basketball team for several international competitions from 1985 to 1992, including the 1992 Olympic bronze team.

Born Theresa Marie Shank in Spangler, Pennsylvania, Grentz was raised in Glenolden, Pennsylvania and attended Cardinal O'Hara High School.

She intended to go to college out of state, but when she was a high school senior, her family's home was destroyed by a fire, so she attended Immaculata College, then a women's college, closer to home.

The 1985–86 Rutgers team finished a perfect 16–0 in Atlantic 10 play and made the first of two consecutive Elite Eight appearances; The Star-Ledger awarded Grentz its Coach of the Year honor in women's basketball that season.

Grentz's most successful season at Rutgers was in 1986–87 with a 30–3 record, Atlantic 10 regular season and conference titles, and Elite Eight appearance.

That season, she won the Converse National Coach of the Year award from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

Rutgers also appeared in nine straight NCAA Tournaments from 1986 to 1994, including Elite Eight appearances in 1986 and 1987.

She was also named the March of Dimes Coach of the Year in 1990–91 and the Metropolitan Women's Basketball Association Coach of the Year in 1992–93.

After Rutgers, Grentz was head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1995 to 2007, taking Illinois to 10 postseason appearances and the 1997 Big Ten Conference regular season title.

After a seven-year hiatus from coaching, Grentz returned to college basketball at Lafayette College, first as an assistant coach in 2014–15 then head coach from 2015 to 2017.

The Mighty Macs, as a team were inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2014.