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For
Immediate Release: March 7, 2001 Karin
Nicholls Helps to Continue Resurgence in Athletics at UT Pan American
Nicholls, in just her first year as Head
Coach for the Lady Broncs, led the team to its highest win total as an
NCAA Division I member. Despite a late hire, which did not allow her
time to recruit any new players for the season, Nicholls led the team to
an 11-17 record; nearly double the win total of the 1999-2000 team,
which had a 6-21 record. “This is
the culmination of several things,” said Nicholls.
“First, I would not have received this award without a great
staff that works very hard every day to make this program successful.
We also had a great group of young ladies who dealt with change
in a very positive way. They
have been enthusiastic and hard working since day one.
They’re a huge reason for my success.
We’re trying to establish UTPA as a program that people will
have to contend with on the national level and this is a good start on
that.” For the
first time since UTPA has become an NCAA Division I Independent, the
Lady Broncs had a player named first team All-Independent when Cheveron
Terry was honored on Tuesday. They
also had two players named All-Independent for the first time when
Alexandra Gravel was named as a second team selection. “We are
extremely pleased that Karin Nicholls has been recognized as the NCAA
Division I National Coach of the Year,” said UTPA Athletic Director
William Weidner. “Karin is most deserving of this very prestigious honor.
Our women’s basketball program made great progress this past
year and has laid a solid foundation upon which to build future
successes. With Coach
Nicholls continued leadership and direction, our Lady Bronc Basketball
program is poised for the future and on course to achieving our ultimate
goal of establishing a nationally respected and competitive NCAA
Division I Women’s Basketball program.” The honor continues a trend of strong improvement over the last two years, and especially this year, in UTPA Athletics. Dave Thorn led the UTPA Volleyball team to a record tying 19 wins and was named National Independent Volleyball Coach of the Year. Bob Hoffman has led the Men’s Basketball Team to 12 wins in each of the last two years, the first time since the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons that the Broncs have posted back-to-back 10-plus win seasons. The UTPA women’s tennis team has already posted the most wins for the program since the 1994-95 season. The UTPA track and field teams have already had more top-five finishes than they did all of last season and the women’s team won the recent Border Olympics team title for the first time. |
EDINBURG
– Karin Nicholls became the second coach at the University of Texas-Pan
American this year to be named National Independent Coach of the Year
when she was named National Independent Women’s Basketball Coach of
the Year on Tuesday.