NJCAA Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

NJCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACHES
ASSOCIATION INDUCTS TWO INTO HALL OF FAME

 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The 2008 NJCAA Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame class has been announced by the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. This year’s inductees include 10-time New England Region Coach of the Year Dan Mara of the former Mitchell College (Conn.) and the winningest coach in the NJCAA, Lin Laursen of Central Arizona College

The 200 8 class will be formerly inducted into the NJCAA Women’s Hall of Fame at the 200 8 NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament Banquet Monday, March 17 in Salina, Kan.

Bio provided by Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference

Dan Mara has an established career as a coach and administrator in intercollegiate athletics, beginning with his service at former NJCAA member Mitchell College. Mara started his career at Mitchell College in 1976 as Sports Information Director. He was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director and his duties included sports information as well as coordinating recruitment for all sports. He began coaching as Assistant Softball Coach and Assistant Women's Basketball Coach in 1977. His first Head Coaching Position was as Mitchell's Baseball Coach in 1979. He became Head Women's Basketball Coach in 1984 and also served as Head Softball Coach in 1990 and 1991. During his time as Recruiting Coordinator, Mitchell teams won five national titles and 40 New England Championships.

Mara coached the Mitchell College Women's Basketball Team for ten seasons and compiled a career mark of 289-16 (.947 winning percentage). His teams claimed ten National Junior College Athletic Association New England titles and reached two National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Final Fours. During his tenure Mitchell established a national record for consecutive regular season victories. The streak, which ultimately reached 234, was at 223 straight when Mara left Mitchell to become Director of Athletics at then Teikyo Post University. The Pequots fashioned undefeated regular season records every season from 1987-88 until his departure after the 1994-1995 season.

At Mitchell, Mara coached ten Kodak All-Americans including former WNBA star Rita Williams. Williams went on the lead the University of Connecticut to the 1998 Big East Championship and was named tournament Most Valuable Player. She was the 12th pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft and was chosen as the first all-star game representative in Indiana Fever history.

The Mitchell women were not just successful on the court. Ninety Eight percent graduated from Mitchell and an equal percentage continued their education at four-year colleges. Mara was inducted into the Mitchell College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998 and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Mara spent 15 years as a director of the highly successful Fundamental Basketball Camp at Mitchell College and served on the staff of the Irish Basketball Association (IBA) Basketball Camp in Dungarvan, Ireland for eight years under legendary Irish coach Fergus Woods.

He was named NJCAA New England Women's Basketball Coach of the Year nine times, Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Coach of the Year six times, NJCAA District Coach of the Year three times and Converse District Coach of the Year in 1994. He was named CSAC Softball Coach of the Year in 1990 and 1991. He coached the Post Men's Basketball Team to a fourth place finish in the CACC in his only season, 1996-97. His team featured NAIA All-American and future European professional player, Rasuel McKune.

Mara, an award-winning administrator and a hall-of-fame coach, is in his second year as Commissioner of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Mara arrived at the CACC Office after 11 years as the Associate Vice-President for Athletics and Fitness at CACC-member Post University.

Mara served as Vice-President of the CACC from 1998 to 2004 and chaired the conference's Ethics and Membership Committees until his appointment as Commissioner. He was a CACC representative to the NCAA Northeast Regional Division II Men's Basketball Committee from 2002-05. During that time, he was heavily involved with the CACC's move to the NCAA.

In 2006, Mara was elected as First Vice-President of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) and is scheduled to serve the organization as President from 2008-2010. He has been an ECAC Board of Directors member since 2005 as well as serving on the ECAC Strategic Planning Committee, the ECAC Marketing Committee and the ECAC Nominating Committee.

Mara holds degrees from Mitchell College and Roger Williams University as well as a Graduate Certificate from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). He is a native of West Hartford and currently resides in Waterbury with his son, Danny.

“I am deeply honored, humbled and totally shocked. My time in the NJCAA was the greatest experience, and the most fun, of my professional career, said Mara. To be remembered is outstanding, to be chosen for this honor is overwhelming.”

Bio provided by: Tom Di Camillo, Media Relations Officer, Central Arizona College - Signal Peak Campus

The winningest coach in NJCAA women’s basketball history, Lin Laursen, has left it all on the court. Under her guidance, the Central Arizona Vaqueras have captured 20 straight Arizona Community College Athletic Conference titles from 1980-81 through 2000-01, boasting a 392-10 league record and a .975 winning mark.

Her all-time career record of 937-144 translates into a.867 winning percentage, while her ACCAC all-time mark of 606-32 gives the longtime coach a .950 victory clip. The dominance of league opponents continues today with Central Arizona currently owning a 66-0 conference record streak over the last three years.

Laursen has led her squad to 26 NJCAA National Tournament appearances, including 10 in a row from 1986-95, produced 99 All-ACCAC or All-Region athletes, and churned out 20 or more wins in 30 of her 33 years as a head coach. Of those 30 years, 19 have witnessed the Vaqueras surge more than 30 victories. In 1994 Laursen's team won the coveted Alberta Lee Cox Sportsmanship Award, a testimony to her team's conduct on the court.

After the 2007-08 Central Arizona College women's basketball season concludes, Laursen's long career as the only mentor in Vaquera history will come to a glorious end.

And it will be punctuated with two Hall of Fame inductions, the NJCAA Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

"After nearly four decades, it is time for me to pass the torch," Laursen, the passion to coach still very much evident, said. "This program was and will always be my baby, and is so much an integral part of my life that it is hard to let go. But I know I am leaving it in more than capable hands."

Laursen will retire with more victories in the game of women's college basketball than any coach who has ever stalked the sidelines with the notable exception of Pat Summit, the head coach at the University of Tennessee .

Laursen's recruiting ability has blazed a trail of success unmapped in the sport. Four-year schools have accepted 183 of her players on to their rosters, while stars like Bridget Pettis and Amanda Lassiter have played in the WNBA. Average it out over her 34 years more than five of her players each year move on to four-year institutions.

Many of her players are still active overseas, living out their passion by playing the game professionally. The coaching ranks are blanketed with her disciples, including two in the Arizona Community Colleges Greta Naranjo at Pima Community College and Sam Ezell at Phoenix College .

That mindset has produced three National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Championships (1989, 1998, 2005), 10 NJCAA final four appearances (1988-90, 1997-99, 2004-07) and 28 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference titles.

In the last four seasons, Central Arizona College has finished no lower than third in the nation while producing 34 All-Americans. It is just another floorboard in an arena with standing room only seats for history.

"Every time I walk into our gymnasium, I see the footprints left behind by the awesome lineups of 28 ACCAC Championship teams, 26 NJCAA regional titles and three National Championships," Laursen said.

The footprints are echoes left by players who helped permanently stamp Lin Laursen's name onto the same floor she will cross to her office for one more year.