Gunnare Selected as 2015-2016 Coach of the Year

Casper College’s Women’s Basketball Head Coach, Dwight Gunnare, has been named Coach of the Year in Region IX for the 2015-2016 year. The Lady T-Birds ended the year with a record of 28-5.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by my peers,” says Gunnare, “but really this is given to the coach with the most successful team. Credit goes first to all the players and then to assistant coach Sarah McNamee, Athletic Director Angel Sharman, Casper College and the community.”

The team, which tied for first place in the North Sub-region, was ranked 14th in the nation in the final NJCAA national poll. Gunnare was able to take advantage of a new NJCAA recruiting rule change that allowed him to recruit internationally.

“What I enjoyed the most about this group of athletes is how they all came together and played so well as a team,” he says. The new rule allowed Gunnare to recruit Division I quality players from Turkey, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, and England, while still retaining the same number of local and regional players. “We’ve replaced going to the larger cities to recruit with these international players,” he notes.

For the 2016-17 year, Gunnare expects to have a “great nucleus” of seven players from this year’s team. “Our program is set up to have great seasons like this last one, but,” he emphasizes one last time, “it couldn’t happen without the help and support of everyone.”