Hoosiers name new women's basketball coach

From 1984 to 1988, Sharon Versyp made West Lafayette her home as a player. Now Versyp will make Bloomington her new home after being named the IU women's basketball coach Friday.\nVersyp, a native of Mishawaka, Ind., will return to Indiana after five years as coach at the University of Maine, where she compiled a 98-51 record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2004.\nVersyp replaces former coach Kathi Bennett, who resigned March 1 after five years at IU. Bennett left with a 72-75 record.\nRealizing the team's possibilities was one of the main reasons Versyp said she came to Bloomington.\n"I've always known that there is a great potential here," she said. "I discussed it a little bit, but I know that IU is a sleeping giant. We need to get the state excited about IU women's basketball. When it has that much potential, it is exciting. We can always go up, and we are going to do it and do it in grand fashion."\nVersyp becomes the latest coach to leave the Black Bears for the Big Ten. In 2000, Joanne McCallie left Maine to join Michigan State, where she led the Spartans to the national title game this season.\nBefore entering the coaching ranks, Versyp had an impressive playing career in the state. Versyp was a four-year starter at Purdue and earned Indiana's Miss Basketball in 1984.\nThe combination of head coaching experience, winning and recruiting made Versyp a logical choice to be the seventh coach in the program's history, IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan said.\n"I think the first step is reclaiming some territory and I think Sharon is the leader to do it," Greenspan said. "We need to reinvigorate people that have strong ties to this institution, whether it's alum, high school coaches or potential student athletes and that comes from a grass-roots approach."\nTo get the Hoosiers back to the NCAA Tournament, Versyp said she plans to insert a full-court defense and run up and down the court as much as possible. The team will also use multiple sets on the attack, including a motion offense. \nWith a new coach in place, the team is eager to start the season, said junior guard Cyndi Valentin.\n"We can now put a name with a face. We can start working with the coach next week, and it is very exciting," she said. "(I'm) excited just because she is not set in her ways, she'll play defense man-to-man and she'll play zone -- she's able to change. I like change and I like to run the floor and it is exciting for us guards."\nA major change to the Hoosiers will be conditioning, Versyp said. At Maine, her team's conditioning paid big dividends, as they outscored teams in the second half by a total of 106 points for the season. \n"The biggest strength that I have is that (the team) is going to be the best strength and conditioned team," Versyp said. "I've done that in the past and by the last six minutes of the half or the end of the game we're still plowing on and kicking and the other team starts really showing their fatigue, and that is what we have to do here is finish."\nTwo main areas Versyp said she feels IU can improve are recruiting and attendance.\nEven with two powers in women's basketball in Notre Dame and Purdue, Versyp's recruiting goal is simple: "First and foremost, getting the best players in the state of Indiana."\nVersyp is hoping her background in high school coaching in Indiana will reap rewards in the coming years. Before going to James Madison University to be an assistant coach, Versyp started at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis and was there from 1989-1993.\nAttendance, a problem that reared its head many times for the Hoosiers this season, will also be a point of emphasis for Versyp.\nFor the season, IU averaged 1,782 per game. At Maine under Versyp the Black Bears averaged 2,372 and ranked in the top 40 in attendance in the nation.\n"I think that we can be very successful," Versyp said. "It is how soon (the team) starts, more or less, investing in what I'm selling. The Big Ten is a great conference because every year it could be somebody new."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.