Head Coach Shirley Egner Head Coach
One of the winningest coaches in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference history, Shirley Egner begins her 23rd season as head coach of the Pointers in 2011-12. Egner has compiled a 409-173 overall record in her 22 seasons, ranking second on the alltime WIAC wins list. Over the last 10 seasons, Coach Egner has guided the Pointers to an average of 23 wins per season and her alltime coaching record, including high school, is 550-228.
CAREER HIGHLIGHS -22 seasons -409-173 record at UWSP -550-228 all-time record -2010 WBCA Hall of Fame -2002 National Champions -Four-time WIAC Coach of the Year -Two-time WBCA Coach of the Year -Five NCAA Sweet 16 Appearances -Three NCAA Elite Eight Appearances -Seven NCAA Tournament Appearances -Four WIAC Championships -Five WIAC Tournament Championships
Egner is a four-time WIAC Coach of the Year honoree, earning the award in 200304, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2010-2011. In 2010 Egner was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Egner has also been named the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III Women’s Coach of the Year the past two years. Last season the Pointer rattled off a schoolrecord 20-game win streak and became just the sixth team in WIAC history to post a perfect 16-0 conference record. In addition, they recorded the nation’s 18th-best GPA among NCAA Division III teams. As a team, UWSP women’s basketball student-athletes compiled a 3.459 team GPA. Coach Egner led the Pointers to the 2001-02 NCAA Division III championship with a 67-65 win over St. Lawrence (N.Y.). She then took the Pointers back to the final four again two years later in 2003-04, where they placed fourth. The Pointers have achieved their best success in recent seasons with a 260-59 record over the past eleven seasons, which is the best winning percentage of any league team over that span. UW-Stevens Point’s best record was 30-3 during its championship season in 200102, becoming just the eighth team in Division III history to win 30 games in a season. Along the way to the championship, Egner also guided the Pointers to a 66-60 victory over four-time defending Division III champion Washington (Mo.), snapping the Bears’ 70game home winning streak.
UW-Stevens Point won back-to-back WIAC titles in 2003-04 and 2004-05. In 2003-04, the Pointers also captured their first-ever WIAC tournament crown, as Egner was named the league’s Coach of the Year. In 2007-08, the Pointers finished third in the WIAC regular season standings, but became the first non-No. 1 seed ever to win the WIAC tournament crown with wins at Whitewater and at Eau Claire, as Egner was again named Coach of the Year. Pointers are a league-best 137-39 in the WIAC over the past 11 seasons. Egner came to UW-Stevens Point from Nicholls State University in Thibodeaux, La., where she served as a graduate assistant. A native of McFarland, Wis., and a 1980 graduate of UW-La Crosse, she began her coaching career as head girls’ basketball coach at Shiocton (Wis.) High School. After a one-year stint as the girls’ freshman coach at Monona Grove (Wis.) High School, she became head girls’ coach at Waunakee (Wis.) High School, where she led the Warriors to a five-year record of 115-40, including conference titles in 1985, 1986 and 1987 and state tournament appearances in 1986 and 1987. Following the 1986-87 season, she was named the WBCA District Five Coach of the Year and was chosen to coach the Class B South Team in the WBCA All-Star Game in Madison. Egner, who was the chair of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball committee from 2006-08 overseeing the national selection committee, is also the senior women’s administrator for UWSP Athletics.
20 sports, 500 student-athletes, 1 Point