By Catherine Laroche

When Jeff Walz accepted the head coaching position for the University of Louisville women’s basketball program, he had intentions of building up what was left behind for him.

The decision to coach the Cardinals was an easy one for Walz.

“I coached at [the University of] Maryland for the last five years, had the opportunity to win a national championship and this is home,” Walz said. “I’ve got two young children and my wife is from Indiana. So, it was a great opportunity for us to get back home and to be a coach of a school in the Big East. What [U of L Athletic Director] Tom Jurich and [Senior Associate Athletic Director] Julie Hermann have done for the athletic department and the student athletes is just incredible.”

In five seasons as an assistant coach and an associate head coach at Maryland, he helped guide the Terrapins to four NCAA Tournament bids and a National Championship. He also assisted in signing back-to-back top-five recruiting classes in 2004 and 2005.

Prior to joining Maryland’s staff, Walz held assistant coaching positions at the University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska and Western Kentucky University. At Minnesota, he worked with posts and centers, while taking on scouting and recruiting efforts for the Gophers.

At Nebraska, he helped the Huskers to a school-record three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. He was in charge of conducting individual development workouts as well as opponent scouting.

Walz began his collegiate coaching career at WKU in 1996. During that season, the Hilltoppers finished as the Sun Belt Co-Champions and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In less than a year, Walz is already showing progress in building the Cardinals’ program. He believes that effort plays a big part in building a program.

“Our goals and what the fans can expect is we’re going to come out and play as hard as you’ve ever seen,” Walz said. “We’re going to get out there, play and get after it. Hopefully the score will be in our favor, but sometimes it’s not. So, if we can look at each other and know that we’ve played hard for 40 minutes, that’s really all I care about.”

U of L’s recruiting class for the 2008-2009 season is ranked No. 13 in the country.

“We’re really excited about the kids that we’ve signed,” Walz said. “We think that they’re going to be able to come in here and compete and help us to get deeper and stronger, especially with the returning players we’ll have next season. We’re really excited about that. You have to start somewhere in the recruiting process and I think we’ve started off on the run.”

Recently, ground was broken on a new riverfront arena in downtown Louisville; in which both the women’s and men’s basketball teams will serve as the primary tenants. Walz is thrilled about the new $450 million arena.

“It’s going to be a great environment for us,” Walz said. “It’s going to be nice. It’s a great recruiting tool to be able to tell our student-athletes that we’re trying to recruit.”

Although the Cards lost to No. 1 University of Connecticut last weekend, Walz gave the record-breaking crowd of 19,123 fans a taste of the potential of the Cardinals.

“If we can get one-third of the first-time fans to come back, it would be outstanding,” Walz said. “Unfortunately I think a lot of people out here in Louisville haven’t come watch these young ladies play. They’ll be amazed at how hard they play and how good they are.”

The players made it clear they are happy with the decision to hire Walz.

“He’s going to change this program,” junior All-American Angel McCoughtry said. “He’s going to have big names on this court sooner or later. The best thing about him is his drive and passion for the game and in coaching us.”

One of Walz’s biggest traits that impressed the Cardinals the most is that he cares about the team. As the minutes were winding down in the UConn game, Walz pulled out junior forward Candyce Bingham purposely so she could get a standing ovation for her hard work.

“He’s there for me as a coach and a person,” Bingham said.