(CST) Thursday, Oct.25 Winnipeg (Exh.) Grand Forks, ND 6 pm ...

All-Time Winningest NCAA Division II
Women’s Basketball Coaches (by Percentage)
Coach, Team Years Won Lost Pct.
1. *Gene Roebuck, North Dakota 20 530 89 .856
2. Lloyd Clark, Delta State 19 494 98 .834
3. Darlene May, Cal Poly Pomona 20 519 119 .813
4. Curt Bailey, Saint Rose 12 279 75 .788
5. *Barbara Stevens, Bentley 30 734 201 .785
*- active Division II coach
Coach of the Year awards and UND
returned to the NCAA tournament, to
which it has advanced every year since. A
93-78 victory over Augustana in the first
round was the program’s first postseason
victory, which was followed by a 90-58
defeat of North Dakota State. Though the
Sioux lost to Cal Poly Pomona in the
national quarterfinals, UND had reached a
new level of expectation.
UND went 150-27 over the next six
years, winning three NCC titles and averaging
a remarkable 25 wins per year. The
two steps (compete against the best teams
in the North Central Conference and win
the NCC championships) of Roebuck’s
plan were clearly accomplished and the
groundwork was now in place for the program’s
second watershed breakthrough.
It came on March 9, 1997, at North
Dakota State in the championship game of
the NCAA Division II North Central
Regional. The Sioux were in the NCAA
tournament for the eighth consecutive
year, and if a national championship was
to be won, what better place to take the
step that had not been taken before than
the Bison Sports Arena? If the Sioux wanted
to be the best, they would have to beat
the best. NDSU was the four-time defending
national champions and had won 58
straight games on its home court.
Down 64-54 with six minutes to play,
UND went on a nearly inconceivable 19-2
run to close out the game, moving onto the
Elite Eight and moving up to Roebuck’s
final step, that being national champions.
That happened the following weekend at
the Elite Eight that was played in Grand
Forks, where the 1997 Sioux won a national
championship, but did so using the
groundwork laid out by the teams of the
early and mid-90s.
The Sioux would win two more national
titles in 1998 and 1999 and advance to
the 2001 national championship game.
Roebuck’s athletic success began at
Velva (N.D.) High School, where he
earned 12 letters in football, basketball and
baseball. He would go on to play both
baseball and basketball at Mayville State
(N.D.), where he would earn a degree in
physical education and business education
in 1969. While at MSU, Roebuck was a
HEAD COACH GENE ROEBUCK
four-year letterwinner and three-year
starter in basketball. He also excelled in
baseball, twice earning all-conference honors
and being named to the NAIA District
12 team once. In the fall of 2000, he was
inducted into the Mayville State Hall of
Fame.
In addition to leading the UND-Lake
Region women’s basketball team to a
three-year mark of 87-14, Roebuck also
guided the Royal baseball team to 1985,
1986 and 1987 North Dakota state baseball
championships.
Roebuck was named baseball coach at
North Dakota in 1990 and led the Sioux to a
99-61-1 record over four seasons. In 1993 he
took UND to the Division II College World
Series for the first time in school history.
Roebuck resigned as baseball coach in July
1993 to concentrate solely on women’s basketball.
Roebuck’s wife, Karolyn, works for the
Grand Forks Public Schools system. They
have one daughter, Cierra, who is a student
assistant coach with the Sioux after playing
the past two seasons.
5