Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190087
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Temple hired Curtis as its new coach Curtis Monday. She succeeds Linda McDonald, who resigned after 10 years to become coach at Minnesota.
"From my first contact, I've learned a lot about the Temple philosophy, and I look forward to being an actual part of it and taking the basketball program to the next level," Curtis said.
Curtis is in Colorado Springs, Colo., assisting with the national select-team trials. She will be touring with the national team and is not expected to start work at Temple until late July, a university spokesman said.
"Beyond her excellent basketball coaching record, Ms. Curtis is a very bright and well-rounded individual," Temple president Peter Liacouras said. ". . . Her record and reputation are the same: She cares about and develops her players as student achievers and good citizens."
The search for Curtis' successor begins at once, Radford athletic director Chuck Taylor said.
"In my estimation, Charlene Curtis is without doubt a Top 20 women's basketball coach," Taylor said. "She is intelligent, possesses all the necessary talents and, above all else, has an excellent work ethic. She will be a success in any program regardless of the level of competition."
Curtis has been highly successful at Radford. During her tenure, the Highlanders have gone 121-53 and won every Big South Conference regular season title since the league began offering women's sports in 1986-87. Her teams won 20 games three times including 1988-89, when the Highlanders went 25-7 and were invited to the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Radford won the consolation bracket.
That was the first postseason national tournament to which any Radford basketball team had been invited.
Curtis is the president of Radford's national alumni association. Also, she has served on the university Board of Visitors.
She was an assistant at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1989 and has been a voting member of the Philadelphia Inquirer's national women's basketball rankings panel.
Curtis went to Radford as a student out of William Fleming High. She played basketball at Radford from 1972-76 and was the school's first 1,000-points scorer. She graduated with a degree in music education in 1976.
Curtis also was a finalist for the opening at Illinois this spring. That job went to Ohio State assistant Kathy Lindsey.
Said Curtis: "For the next two years I envision making progress toward being one of the top three teams in the Atlantic 10 [Conference] and to be a consistent NCAA participant."
by CNB