GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of North Dakota athletics director Brian Faison announced today that Travis Brewster has been named the sixth head coach of the Fighting Sioux women's basketball program. Brewster's appointment comes just weeks after Gene Roebuck announced that this will be his 25th and final season at the helm of the Sioux.
"Coach Brewster is one of the up-and-coming coaches in the game," Faison said. "He brings a special combination of coaching, recruiting, administrative and communication skills to the position. In observing Coach Brewster over the past few years, he clearly knows how to effectively lead and motivate our student-athletes. He has a passion to continue the excellent competitive and academic traditions that have been built for women's basketball at the University of North Dakota."
"Travis has earned the right to move into the head coaching position," Roebuck said. "He's been instrumental in all phases of our program."
Brewster, who is in his ninth year with the team, was elevated to the position of associate head coach in the summer of 2009.
"I want to thank the University of North Dakota, President Robert Kelley, athletics director Brian Faison, senior associate athletic director Daniella Irle, and the search committee for believing in me," Brewster said. "UND has tremendous support for academics, athletics and women's basketball, and I have been fortunate to see the benefits of this firsthand over the years."
During his nine years on Gene Roebuck's staff, UND has won over 71 percent of its games, three regular season conference titles, four conference postseason tournament titles and helped lead the program to three winning seasons during the four-year transition to NCAA Division I status. Two players earned conference player of the year accolades, three earned All-America status and eight earned first team all-conference honors.
"I learned so much from Coach Roebuck. He taught me that it's OK to keep things simple and be the best at it. It's about what our program does, not about what other programs do. He gave me things and let me take it and make my own strides. It started with recruiting, then working with player development and then strategy. He always gave me great input."
Brewster began his career at North Dakota as a graduate assistant coach for the men's program during the 2001-02 season, then joined the women's staff as a full-time assistant in 2002. From 2002-06, he served as recruiting coordinator and assistant coach. During those four years, the Sioux won four North Central Conference Tournament titles and consecutive NCC regular season titles in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, the team finished had a perfect regular season, won the NCC regular season and conference tournament titles and finished 34-1.
Brewster spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach and team travel coordinator at South Dakota State and helped guide the Jackrabbits to a 23-7 record, a Summit League regular season championship and an appearance in the Women's NIT postseason tournament. He spent the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach and strength and conditioning liaison at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Brewster returned to Coach Roebuck's staff to start the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I status in 2008-09. In that first season UND went 18-11, posted a perfect 13-0 home record and won the season ending UND Spring Thaw Tournament. The next season UND won the 2010 Great West Conference regular season title and this year UND is in first place in the GWC with two weeks left in the regular season.
In the summer of 2010, Brewster was one of just a handful of coaches selected nationally to attend the Black Coaches & Administrators Achieving Coaching Excellence program, where he underwent training in on- and off-camera interviews, on-court teaching, conducting home visits, budgets, leadership, networking, contract negations, and maintaining a quality of life.
As a player at the collegiate level, Brewster played two seasons at Iowa Lakes Community College ('90, '91), before moving on to Division I Charleston Southern ('92, '93). At ILCC, Brewster played on teams that went 49-12; at CSU, he was a two-time defensive MVP and team captain in 1993.
After graduating Charleston Southern in 1994, he played three years of professional basketball in Europe. In 1994-95, he played for Grand Saconnex in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1995-96, he moved up to Olympia Basketball Regensdorf in Zurich, Switzerland. In his third and final year, 1996-97, Brewster played for Dungannon in Ireland and Villar in Switzerland. He was a two-time member of the Swiss all-star team.
After his professional career, Brewster returned to Iowa Lakes in 1998 as an assistant coach. In three seasons he helped guide the Lakes to an aggregate record of 68-27.
Brewster is a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and the Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA).
His family includes his wife, Rebecca, daughter, Reganne, and sons, Drake and Kaid.
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