Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame
When Theresa Shank Grentz was hired at Rutgers in August of 1976, she became the first full-time women's basketball coach in the nation. In her 19 seasons at Rutgers she amassed a 434-150 (.584) record, winning six Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season and four tournament titles. She led the Lady Knights to the 1982 AIAW Tournament national championship and nine consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament (1986-94) as 14 of her 19 teams won 20 or more games. She coached three Kodak/WBCA All-Americans while "On the Banks" - Kris Kirchner (1981), June Olkowski (1982) and Sue Wicks (1986-88). Wicks went on to earn National Player-of-the-Year honors in 1988. Grentz was named the Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year in 1986, 1988, 1993 and 1994. The Newark Star Ledger named her the Coach of the Year in 1986. An eight-time New Jersey Coaches/ Writers Association Coach of the Year, the Metropolitan Women's Basketball Association named her the Coach of the Year in 1993, and she earned her second Kodak District II Coach-of-the-Year award that same season. Inducted into the Nike Hall of Fame in 1992, Grentz also was named the 1987 Converse National Coach of the Year following a season which found her Lady Knights finish with a 30-3 record. Her extensive international coaching experiences while at Rutgers were capped by her selection as the head coach of the 1992 Olympic Team. She led the United States to a bronze medal at the Games in Barcelona. Grentz added to her selection to the Rutgers Women's Basketball Hall of Fame by her induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame just six weeks later.
