Oct. 27, 2014
Brandon Applehans
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Winning is normal for first-year women’s basketball head coach Shawn Nelson. In his eight seasons as head coach for Carroll College, he averaged over 25 wins per season, making him the youngest and fastest coach to reach over 100 wins in that program.
Nelson sees some of Carroll in his new role at UCCS.
“UCCS reminds me of the first school I coached at for many years,” he said. “Carroll College was a very high academic and high character institution.”
The team and the new head coach have similar goals, according to Nelson.
“I think everybody’s expectations are the same: to win the RMAC, to host the RMAC tournament and to get to the national tournament,” said Nelson.
Last year, the team lost to Colorado Mesa in the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout 57-70. Nelson wants to implement a similar way of doing things at UCCS to what he had at Carroll.
“Our motivation at Carroll was to get after it every day and play as hard as we could. We wanted to do all of the little things right consistently for 40 minutes,” he said.
Between Carroll and UCCS, Nelson was the head coach of Central Washington. One of the major selling points for Nelson was the staff at UCCS.
“The administration supports basketball here,” he said. “All the way down people like basketball and it’s a perfect place for me to be at.”
Nelson believes this year UCCS fans will bring another element to Gallogly Events Center.
“I watched video tape of games here last year where it was packed,” said Nelson. “I think with the success the men’s team had last year and with our expectations, there are going to be nights in here where it’s hard to get a seat.”
The first game for the team is Nov. 14 against Lubbock Christian in Golden, Colo. The Mountain Lions will be at home for the first time on Nov. 28 against Montana Tech. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. in the Gallogly Events Center.
Look for continued coverage of the women’s basketball team in The Scribe throughout the season.