fter 25 years our beloved University of North Dakota Women’s Basketball Head Coach Gene Roebuck is retiring. Gene Roebuck announced his retirement on January 20th and will be missed by players and fans alike.
Gene Roebuck was hired as the University of North Dakota’s women’s basketball coach in June 1987 and he soon transformed the program into a Division II powerhouse. Since Roebuck arrived at the helm, UND has gone 607-134 and has won 12 conference championships (11 NCC, one GWC) and in 1997, 1998, and 1999 captured back-to-back-to-back NCAA Division II National Championships. He has produced the WBCA Player of the Year four times and has guided eight NCC MVPs and one Great West Player of the Year. In addition, 19 players have been named All-America, 52 players were named All-NCC, and four have been named All-GWC.
If you look at the accomplishments of Coach Roebuck he has done much for not just women’s basketball at UND, but also for the community as a whole. Gene Roebuck put Grand Forks and the women’s basketball team at UND on the map for all to see with his great coaching.
In talking with Coach Roebuck I learned much about his coaching style. Coach Roebuck’s goal with the women on his team was always to “expand their knowledge of the game.” That knowledge is what made the UND Women’s Basketball team one to be reckoned with for the last 25 years. In Grand Forks, every year around basketball season, we always knew our women’s squad would be in the hunt for the title. Coach Roebuck has produced some great players in his tenure at UND. Jenny Krauss who is by far the most recognizable player Coach Roebuck has ever produced, to the National Player of the year Sherry Kleinsasser who now publishes a magazine that many of us in the region have seen as of late called “On the Minds of Moms.” I believe Coach Roebuck not only taught basketball to these young women, but also how to set goals and make those goals attainable.
When I asked Coach Roebuck what his best memory was of his coaching years at UND he pondered the question for only a moment. “The first national championship against Southern Illinois played in Grand Forks in front of a national television audience, and the electricity of the facility” he responded. To this writer Gene Roebuck is a coach’s coach, who owned the court in which his women basketball stars played on night after night under his direction. He always strived to give Grand Forks the best team he could, and a team that we could all be proud of. Coach Roebuck made it clear to me that he was “honored to coach at UND” and I believe he has much to be proud of in his accomplishments.
As Coach Gene Roebuck steps down from his post and a new era of women’s basketball at UND begins he won’t be far away, and I’m sure we will see him in attendance at many of the women’s basketball games in the future. Coach Roebuck will be retiring to Bemidji, Minnesota where he says he will be catching up on lots of ice fishing that he has been missing out on during his coaching years, and also spending time with his two grandsons who are ages one and two.
Grand Forks bids you a farewell Coach Gene Roebuck and thanks you for the amazing seasons you gave us. You will be missed!