Women's Basketball

Durchslag Takes Over Poets Women's Basketball Program

Whittier, Calif. - Whittier College Director of Athletics, Robert Coleman, has announced the hiring of Brad Durchslag as the Head Coach of the Poets Women's Basketball program.  Durchslag brings seven years of experience as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I and Division III levels, where his teams combined for a 116-81 overall record.

"Brad brings a breadth of experience at both the Division I and Division III levels and he was without question the best fit for what we need at Whittier College at this time," said Coleman.

The bulk of that experience came at Trinity University (Texas), where Durchslag won a Division III National Championship in 2003 as the first assistant and recruiting coordinator.  In his four seasons at Trinity, the team also won two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships and reached the NCAA Division III sweet sixteen.

Durchslag went on to a brief stint as the first assistant and recruiting coordinator at Carnegie Mellon University for the 2005-06 season.  He left to be reunited with his Head Coach at Trinity, Becky Geyer, this time at Division I Jacksonville State University.  The pair rebuilt the program and led Jacksonville State to an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament berth in 2007-08.

Despite the success he had at the Division I level, Duchslag is excited to return to Division III and reach the national stage as a head coach.  "It is an honor to be named head coach at Whittier College," he said.  "I am excited to be a part of such a fine academic institution and athletic department.   I look forward to working with the returning talented student-athletes and I am anxious to elevate the program to compete at a national level.  We have high expectations and we will get there with hard work and determination."

Coleman also has high expectations for his newest head coach.  "Brad has shown that he has the reputation for building relationships that will help in not only strengthening the program, but it will broaden its appeal to prospective student-athletes, alumni and members of the Whittier community."

Whittier College finished the 2007-08 season with a 12-13 overall record and narrowly missed a berth in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with a 7-7 conference record (5^th place).  The Poets return eleven players from that squad, just one of whom will be returning as a senior.