Basketball Pioneer Grentz to Speak About Women's Leadership Style at Widener

Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Theresa Grentz, a Glenolden, Pa. native and member of the three-time national champion Immaculata College teams of the early 1970s, will talk about how female coaches lead differently than male coaches on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in Lathem Hall at Widener University. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Oskin Leadership Institute and the Widener Athletics Department.

In 1972, Grentz (then Shank) led Immaculata to the first of three consecutive Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national championships and was a first team All-American all three years. In 1974, she was the collegiate player of the year. The story is told in the 2011 feature film "The Mighty Macs."

After Immaculata, Grentz went on to a prolific collegiate coaching career. She coached two seasons at St. Joseph's University before becoming the first full-time women's basketball coach at Rutgers University and leading the Scarlet Knights to the AIAW national title in 1982. In 1990, Grentz coached the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team to a bronze medal in Barcelona, Spain. She served as head coach of the University of Illinois women's basketball team from 1995 to 2007, retiring as the all-time winningest coach in Illinois history and becoming just the 10th coach in NCAA history to reach the 650-win milestone.

Today, Grentz leads her own company, Grentz Elite Coaching, which specializes in basketball training camps for boys and girls, one-on-one coaching for college-bound athletes and professional mentoring for assistant and head coaches.

Dr. Arthur Schwartz, executive director of the Oskin Leadership Institute, will lead the interview style conversation with Grentz. Widener women's basketball head coach Alisa Kintner will then join the conversation with a student leader from the women's basketball team. The conversation will be followed by a question and answer session with Grentz, Kintner and the student.

The mission of the Oskin Leadership Institute is to perpetuate the university's long and noble tradition of inspiring students to be strategic leaders and responsible citizens who possess the character, courage and competencies to affect positive change throughout the world.

Widener University is a private, metropolitan university that connects curricula to social issues through civic engagement. Dynamic teaching, active scholarship, personal attention, leadership development, and experiential learning are key components of the Widener experience. A comprehensive doctorate-granting university, Widener is comprised of eight schools and colleges that offer liberal arts and sciences and professional and pre-professional curricula leading to associate's, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. The university's campuses in Chester, Exton, and Harrisburg, Pa., and Wilmington, Del., serve approximately 6,500 students. Visit the university's website, www.widener.edu, for more information.

 

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