by Elijah Walker
Is there a thing as being in the hot seat for your first year of coaching at a new school? Rusty Rodgers knows the feeling and is used to responding in huge ways. This is Rodgers’ 30th year of coaching and his fourth college team. That’s the most experience in a coach that a school looking to rebound after a tough season is looking for. Rodgers comes from the humid, dry weather of Arizona, where he coached high school basketball for 14 years. Out of 487 high school games coached, Rodgers won 338 of them, giving him an approximate 70 winning percentage. Rodgers also coached the men’s team at his former school, Dyke College.
This year the Concordia University Chicago women’s basketball team won 16 of 27 games while winning 12 out of 20 games in conference play. Their last loss came at the hands of Wisconsin Lutheran College in the second round of the conference playoff round. The Cougars were especially impressive when playing at home in the Geiseman Gymnasium, where they only lost 3 out of 12 games played there. This was a huge step in the right direction for CUC, who only won 2 games out of the whole season last year. It’s obvious that Coach Rodgers had an instant impact on the Lady Cougars. Concordia seems to have found someone to turn the program around and in a hurry.
How did Coach Rodgers even end up at CUC? Well, at first coaching wasn’t even an option because Rodgers was at the time satisfied with his career and was happily retired. The ultimate decision to come out of retirement and coach at a school where they had won only 10 percent of their games the previous season came from within Rodgers’ inner circle. His daughter Miranda, who plays guard for the team, didn’t encourage her dad to come out of retirement at first, but had a sudden change of heart.
“She started recruiting me heavy once the previous coach was let go,” Coach Rodgers had to say about his daughter’s involvement in recruiting him to CUC. Miranda was the main reason for Coach Rodgers’ decision to come out of retirement. Rodgers also likes coaching the collegiate level of basketball more than the high school because “the girls are easier to teach to and you have more time to practice and put in plays”.
There were many questions before the season started. Will this be another terrible season? Can this coach bring his experience and winning ways to the Lady Cougars? How will he change the basketball team? Rodgers’ first goal was to get the team to trust him.
“That’s always a challenge. It takes time. I just continue to send the same message repetitively, back up what I talk, and eventually I gained their trust.”
It took faith because there were a plethora of bumps in the road and adversity the team had to face. Although they were tough to beat at home, the Cougars had trouble getting their first road win. They also battled what most good teams go through in a season: foul troubles and injuries. But the team kept their faith in their coach’s plan. That faith ultimately didn’t backfire and led them to a playoff win in Rodger’s first year coaching them.
Coach Rodger’s success came from a defensive game plan that he had been using “since day 1”. In multiple games, the Cougars ran a full court press that relentlessly pressured their opponents into turnovers, which led to easy baskets for the Cougars.
“I’ve always coached the way that I hated to play against [the full court press]. It keeps everybody on edge and I want my team to be in control.”
They also used a half court matchup zone that was meant to confuse their opponents and help stop the post from scoring.
So after this much success, how can Rodgers have an even more successful season next year?
“We need to bring in more depth,” Coach Rodgers states. “We only lose one of our players, so we have many returning players. I believe they will all get better and, because of the season we had, I think we can bring in the valuable pieces needed to take the next step.”
Coach Rodgers aims at landing “size and defending post players.” The Cougars need to continue to “trust each other and contribute in their own different ways,” according to Coach Rodgers, to be successful in the next season.
Would anything less than a conference championship be a failure?
“Not at all. Our goal is to win conference and we have the pieces to do so. I believe that is the next step.”
