Sunday, April 02, 2000
NORTHERN KY. INSIDER
Winstel has come far since playing days
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Nancy Winstel's introduction to organized basketball came in late 1973, her freshman year at Northern Kentucky University. NKU didn't yet have a women's team, but Thomas More College was short-handed, so she and a friend joined that team.
“We signed up for a class at Thomas More: judo,” Winstel said, laughing. “We were probably supposed to be full-time students (at TMC). Our coach, Dave Manning, used to say, "Why don't I see you more during the day on campus?' I said, "I'm here, I'm there. I'm around.'”
Whether the plan was above-board or not, the statute of limitations on any wrongdoing has clearly passed. But the chance to get involved in the game has certainly paid off.
Winstel, named the Division II Coach of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, coached NKU's women to the national championship last weekend. This is the third season in which Winstel has received a National Coach of the Year award. She is 401-161 in 20 seasons, including 362-120 in 17 years at NKU.
It has been a dizzying week. Between numerous media requests, she has heard from friends and colleagues nationwide.
Donna Sullivan, a friend who coaches at Seymour (Ind.) High, was on vacation in Aruba, and hadn't heard NKU was in the finals but found the game on ESPN2 while flipping channels. Friends in Virginia were walking by a bar and saw NKU on TV, then went inside to watch. Strangers have approached Winstel and said, “I saw that game. I never did like women's basketball before, but I couldn't turn it off.”
“People have been so wonderful,” Winstel said. “Everyone has said, "We're so happy for you and the school and the girls.'”
Few realize how far Winstel has come. Her season at TMC approximated pickup basketball, but the next year NKU began a women's team and Winstel began to learn the game from then-coach Marilyn Moore.
“I found out I didn't know a thing about basketball,” Winstel said. “I kept a notebook from every practice. I'd try to study it so I'd have a clue the next day.”
Winstel was no star, a self-described defensive stopper. But Moore was her inspiration. Winstel soon decided she wanted to coach basketball after college, and she did, getting the post at Midway (Ky.) College in 1978.
Midway was a two-year school playing four-year colleges, and Winstel went 39-41 in three seasons. She then returned to NKU to coach softball and assist in basketball and volleyball. Jane Meier, now NKU's athletic director, was then the basketball coach, but after two years she insisted Winstel become head coach.
“She hasn't stopped learning since,” Meier said. “She has worked so hard.”
Winstel might soon be approached by Division I schools interested in her services, but she figures leaving unlikely.
“Northern Kentucky is my home,” she said. “NKU has been there for me through good times and bad. I would never say never, but it would take something special for me to leave.”
DUSING STARS: Covington Catholic grad Nate Dusing, a Texas junior swimmer, is now a 19-time All-American.
He won All-American honors in five events last week at the NCAA Championships, taking part in three winning relays (200- and 400-meter medley and 800 freestyle) and placing second in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly. Dusing helped lead the top-ranked Longhorns to the NCAA championship.
SOFTBALL CHANGE: The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has elimi nated time limits on softball games. The past policy limited fast-pitch games to 90 minutes and slow-pitch games to 75 minutes.
The change came about in part because of a Title IX sex discrimination lawsuit threatened by a group of parents with daughters on Boone County's fast-pitch team. They wrote to KHSAA Commissioner Louis Stout, saying boys get more opportunity in full seven-inning baseball games than do girls whose softball games were sometimes shortened.
JOHNSON DEMOTED: Jason Johnson, 26, a 1992 Conner grad, begins this season with the Baltimore Orioles' Triple-A team in Rochester, N.Y. He went 0-3 with a 6.95 ERA with the Orioles this spring.
Johnson had gone 8-7 with a 5.46 ERA in 22 games last year for Baltimore and was expected to be the No.3 starter before struggling this spring. “I fully anticipate him being on this staff this year,” Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove told the Associated Press.
SCHWEGMANN SWEEP: Both Bishop Brossart single-season basketball scoring records reside in the same household. Junior Katie Schwegmann's 22.6-point average this year set a school record, and father Greg Schwegmann still holds the Brossart boys mark with a 18.3 average set in 1970.
SPARKS SIGNS: Dawn Sparks, a four-year starter on Campbell County's volleyball team, has signed with Georgetown (Ky.) University. She led the Camels with 347 kills this season, helping them to a school-best 39-3 mark and Sixth Region title.
Neil Schmidt can be reached at (859) 578-5582 or nschmidt@enquirer.com.
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