Theresa Grentz

Theresa Grentz
Biographical details
Born (1952-03-24) March 24, 1952 (age 72)
Spangler, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Playing career
1971–1974Immaculata
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1974–1976Saint Joseph's
1976–1995Rutgers
1995–2007Illinois
2014–2015Lafayette (assistant)
2015–2017Lafayette
Head coaching record
Overall681–362 (.653)
Tournaments
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • WBCA/Converse National Coach of the Year (1987)
  • 4× Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (1987–88, 1993–94)
  • March of Dimes Coach of the Year (1991)
  • Metropolitan Women's Basketball Association Coach of the Year (1993)
  • 2× Big Ten Coach of the Year (1997–98)
  • Carol Eckman Award (2007)
  • Joe Lapchick Character Award (2013)[1]
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medal record
Women's Basketball
Representing  United States
World University Games
Silver medal – second place 1973 Moscow Team Competition
Head Coach for  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona Team Competition
FIBA World Championship for Women
Gold medal – first place 1990 Kuala Lumpur Team Competition
Goodwill Games
Gold medal – first place 1990 Seattle Team Competition
William Jones Cup
Gold medal – first place 1985 Taipei Team Competition

Theresa Marie Shank Grentz (born March 24, 1952) is an American college basketball coach. Her coaching career spanned five decades, with over 680 career wins, multiple national and conference coaching awards, and a national championship. She is a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.[2]

Grentz grew up in Glenolden, Pennsylvania and played college basketball at Immaculata College, where she earned three All-American honors and was part of three consecutive AIAW national championship teams from 1972 to 1974. After graduating from college, Grentz was head coach at a recently created women's basketball program at Saint Joseph's College from 1974 to 1976.

From 1976 to 1995, Grentz was head women's basketball coach at Rutgers University–New Brunswick during a time when the Rutgers program was transitioning from the AIAW to NCAA levels. Grentz led Rutgers to the final AIAW national championship in 1982, after which Rutgers moved to the NCAA and joined the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1983. Rutgers won eight Atlantic 10 regular season and four Atlantic 10 tournament championships and appeared in nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments, and Grentz earned four Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors and three national honors. After Rutgers, Grentz was head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1995 to 2007, taking Illinois to 10 postseason appearances and the 1997 Big Ten Conference regular season title. After a seven-year hiatus from coaching, Grentz returned to college basketball at Lafayette College, first as an assistant coach in 2014–15 then head coach from 2015 to 2017.

Outside of college basketball, Grentz also was head coach for the United States women's national basketball team for several international competitions from 1985 to 1992, including the 1992 Olympic bronze team.

  1. ^ "Character Award – Joe Lapchick Character Award Foundation".
  2. ^ Jensen, Mike (September 9, 2022). "Theresa Grentz and Marianne Stanley: From Delco to Immaculata to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved October 4, 2022.