Sunday, April 20, 1997

Fort Collins--Colorado State director of athletics Tom Jurich announced yesterday that Tom Collen has accepted the position of head women's basketball coach with the Rams' program. He will assume the duties immediately.

"We are extremely excited to have a coach with the impressive credentials that Tom Collen has developed joining our program,"said Jurich of today's announcement. "He is respected universally in the area of women's basketball for his knowledge of the game and has gained national acclaim for his recruiting ability.

"When we began this process it was the primary goal of the committee to find the best individual for this position. We know Tom Collen is that individual. He is a tremendous 'fit' not just for our women's basketball program, but our entire athletic department as well as the university and the community of Fort Collins.

"I have spoken with literally hundreds of well-respected people who deal with women's basketball daily from a broad spectrum on a national basis. Countless times when discussing one candidate, they would often and without solicitation, bring up the name, achievements, and qualifications of Tom Collen. It seemed no matter where I turned or who I talked with, they knew of Tom's reputation nationally.

"During the interview process, each of the finalists met with members of the search committee, athletic department and university personnel, individuals from the community, and most importantly, members of the team. What came back to us emphatically time and time again was that Tom Collen was the right individual to lead our women's basketball program to the next level of success. We could not be more excited about the future of Rams' women's basketball."

Collen's appointment caps a month-long national search that originally included nearly 80 applicants for the position. Collen was won of five finalists to visit the campus, meet with members of the search committee and university and athletic staff members over the past 10 days.

He comes to Colorado State with an impressive list of coaching credentials. Since 1993, he has been the associate head caoch at Arkansas. During that time he has served as the Lady Razorbacks' national recruiting coordinator. He also coordinated the team's defensive strategy. Additionally, he was in charge of scheduling, equipment, and scouting.

>From 1986-93, he was an assistant at Purdue during a time the Boilermakers evolved into a nationally successful program. Collen also is familiar with the WAC, having coached at Utah from 1984-86 as an assistant to current Utes' women's coach Elaine Elliott. He began his collegiate coaching career in 1981 at Miami Ohio) University, where he worked for three seasons before moving on to Utah.

Collen, 42, earned his bachelor's degree in 1977 from Bowling Green. He also holds two master's degrees from Miami (Ohio) University, earning one in 1982 in Health Education and a year later, another in Recreational Programming.