Women’s basketball coach resigns, heads to Arkansas

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After one of the most successful seasons for the University of Louisville women’s basketball program, the man who led the team, head coach Tom Collen, is relocating to the University of Arkansas to coach

“This was a difficult decision for me to make,” said Collen. “My staff and myself worked very hard over the last four years to rebuild and it was really hard to walk away without finishing the process. I feel good about the program and where it is heading. I have faith that Tom Jurich will find a rising star to continue taking the Cardinals toward national prominence.”

Collen ends his career with the Cards with an 87-37 record in Louisville. He also helped to take the Cardinals to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments, winning the school’s first ever tournament game. This season he helped in getting the first national ranking in the program’s history, and the Cards finished out the season at No. 24. By getting the ranking, he achieved his initial goals of bringing Louisville into the top 25.

Collen will replace former Razorback coach Susie Gardner. Gardner handed in her resignation on March 2. The ‘Backs have been plagued with problems over the years and in Gardner’s four year tenure as coach, they went 16-40 against SEC conference opponents, and a 64-54 record over all.

Although her record does not show it, the Razorbacks started out with a record-breaking 15-1 start this season, and broke into the top 20 for a brief period of time, but were set back significantly with a 10-game losing streak, also a school record.

Collen is no stranger to Arkansas though. He served as recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach before becoming head coach at Colorado State University, under Tom Jurich. When Jurich moved to Louisville in 1997, Collen followed in 2003 to take over the Louisville program.

“It was especially hard for me to walk away from Tom Jurich,” said Collen. “He took a chance on me at Colorado State and gave me my first head coaching job and then hired me again at Louisville. He supported me 100 percent. I hold loyalty in high regard and to walk away from my players and Tom’s leadership was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. It was a decision I had to make for my family and my career.”

The search is now on for a replacement coach, and two names that are being thrown around are current assistant coach Tim Eatman and the University of Maryland’s assistant coach Jeff Walz.