If the end of Sue Semrau’s first decade as the Florida State head women’s basketball coach is any indication, year No. 11 should be the best yet.
The year-long celebration of Semrau’s tenth season in Tallahassee culminated with Florida State reaching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. In addition, the Seminoles had another “first” as they ended the year ranked 19th in the USA Today/ESPN women’s coaches poll. It was the highest FSU has ever been ranked at the conclusion of the season and matched the highest ranking at any point in the year.
Last season the Seminoles strung together their third 20-win season in a row, posting a 24-10 overall mark while finishing fourth in the ACC at 10-4 for the second year in a row. The last three seasons have been the best three-year run in school history as the Seminoles have amassed 68 victories. In addition, FSU has won 29 ACC games during that stretch which is also the most in a three-year span. Since 2004-05, only Duke, Maryland and North Carolina have won more overall and conference games than Florida State.
The winningest coach in school history, Semrau starts her 11th season with a career record of 160-138 while her 68 ACC triumphs are tenth in league history. She needs three more conference victories to more up to eighth on the league list.
There was an early indication that the 2006-07 campaign was going to be a special one for the Seminoles as they started the year by winning 10 of their first 11 games, including a 22-point throttling of in-state rival Florida. A two-game set-back at the end of the calendar year only refocused Florida State as it started the ACC slate by winning its first-four games. The four conference losses came to 2006 National Champion Maryland, 2007 Final Four participant North Carolina, regular season champion Duke and ACC Tournament champion NC State.
A third-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament awaited the Seminoles as they were matched up with Old Dominion in the first round of the Fresno Regional. The Seminoles earned their third-consecutive opening round victory by dispensing the Lady Monarch, 85-75, and setting up a second round match up against Stanford on its home court.
Looking to get back at the Cardinal after it knocked FSU out of the 2006 tournament; the Seminoles played their best down the stretch and pulled away for the 68-61 triumph and the school’s first spot in the Sweet 16. Unfortunately, the magical run ended in Fresno as Florida State ran into a hot LSU team on its way to Final Four. The Tigers ended the Seminoles season with the 55-43 decision.
Numerous individual awards were bestowed upon the Seminoles in 2007. Senior Alicia Gladden was named Third-Team All-ACC and for the third time in four years FSU was represented on the ACC All-Freshman Team with Jacinta Monroe’s selections. In addition, Gladden was chosen for the ACC All-Defensive Team for the third year in a row.
Those accolades are nothing new for Semrau’s players as Florida State has been bringing home some series hardware over the last 10 years. Gladden and Monroe’s honors gave FSU 19 All-ACC awards during Semrau’s tenure to go along with a pair of ACC Coach of the Year honors (2001 & 2005) for her.
Florida State players have garnered national attention under Semrau’s watch. Following the start of FSU’s current three-year NCAA run in 2005, Roneeka Hodges was named All-American. The first Semrau prodigy to earn All-America honor was Brooke Wyckoff with her Second-Team selection in 2001. Both players are currently playing professionally in the WBNA and are two of FSU’s four players to be drafted by the league.
As well as Florida State has done on the court during Semrau’s ten years, the student-athletes have been even more successful in the classroom. The Seminoles led all conference schools with three players on the 2007 All-ACC Academic Women’s Basketball Team, but showing the way academically has been nothing new for Florida State.
Since its inception in 1998, Florida State has had 23 selections to the All-ACC Academic Women’s Basketball Team, which is eight more than the next closest school. In addition, since Semrau took over the program, Florida State has had 63 ACC Academic Honor Roll selections, which also leads the conference.
“The thing I do think about when it’s brought to my attention is all of the hard work that a lot of people have put in to get this program on solid ground and competing at the highest level every year,” Semrau said. “It’s the people I think about and the players who had the courage early on to make the choice to be a part of something special and pave the way for the players today and for the opportunities we all have.”
While Semrau notes the courage of the players she’s had in her program, perhaps she should realize that those players were just following in her footsteps because Semrau will do just about anything for her women’s basketball program. She proved just that when she camped outside of the Donald L. Tucker Center for two days and two nights in an effort to sell 3,000 tickets for the last home game of the 2005-06 season. It’s not like Semrau likes the great outdoors, but when she puts her mind to something, there’s usually no stopping her.
“The thing I love most about Florida State is the people who support us,” Semrau said. “It’s unbelievable to be at an FSU football game with 80,000 awesome fans. I want my players, who have done so much to elevate our women’s basketball program, to experience that special atmosphere,” Semrau said the week of her Tents for Tickets campaign.
Semrau’s passion for the Florida State program has translated into a great deal of success for the Seminoles. In her nine years at the helm of the FSU program and with 136 victories, Semrau is the most winningest women’s basketball coach in Florida State history. She has guided the Seminoles to double-digit victories in seven straight seasons, four straight postseason appearances, both program bests, and to three NCAA Tournaments – more than any other FSU women’s basketball coach.
Semrau and Florida State had a lot to celebrate with the Class of 2006. The first class to lead FSU to seven or more ACC victories in four consecutive seasons including a record 10 wins in 2005-06, this group helped Florida State to three top four finishes in the ACC, and led the team to its record fourth-straight postseason appearance and second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Before the 2005-06 season, the only time Florida State has made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances was 1989-90 and 1990-91. In the Class of 2006’s time together, FSU averaged 19 wins per season which is the most in the Semrau era and second most in FSU history.
With a 20-10 record in 2005-06, FSU earned back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time under Semrau’s direction and just the second time in program history. The season started earlier than usual for the Seminoles when the squad, including the six incoming freshmen, gathered in early August for 10 days of practice in preparation for Florida State’s trip to Italy later that month. During those 10 days, the Seminoles would realize their task ahead. Not only would they have to replace the explosiveness and leadership of departing seniors Roneeka Hodges and Linnea Liljestrand, they would have to figure out a way to mesh six newcomers with nine returning Seminoles. Unfortunately, due to NCAA rules, the incoming freshmen were not allowed to travel to Italy but they were never far from the Seminoles’ thoughts.
While the Seminoles felt some growing pains early in the season, they pulled together and Semrau guided them to eight wins in the final 10 regular-season games. While a fourth-place finish in the nation’s No. 1 rated conference was a feat in itself, the fact that the league’s top three teams were ranked in the top five in the nation and advanced to the Final Four made it even more impressive.
The success of 2005-06 was just a continuation of the process by which Semrau has built the Florida State program. Prior to the 2004-05 season, Semrau introduced Phase Two of the program. While the foundation and the strength of the program would remain an unwavering commitment to the total collegiate experience, Semrau made significant changes including an attitudinal shift within the program, which was geared toward a higher level of personal responsibility, selflessness and the development of a championship mentality.
“When I arrived at Florida State seven years ago, we were winless in the ACC and had been a cellar dweller for quite sometime,” Semrau explained. “We had to do some things to jumpstart our program. We had a lot of courageous young people that stepped into our program who were very talented but maybe didn’t have that elite level work ethic that you would hope in a contender that was year-in and year-out in the Top 20. With Phase Two, we’ve taken a major shift in our program to commit to a little different way of doing things.”
She asked the players to “believe” in Phase Two in 2004-05 and in 2005-06, it was time for them to totally “commit” themselves to it.
Semrau also altered her own coaching style with Phase Two in order to move the program a step closer to its goals. Beginning with the 2004-05 season, Semrau made associate head coach Cori Close the offensive coordinator, assistant coach Lance White the defensive coordinator and assistant coach Angie Johnson the recruiting coordinator. The previous seven years, Semrau involved herself in every move and every decision of her program and she felt it was time to allow her assistants to take ownership and have authority with responsibility.
The results were immediate and have proven successful over the long haul with back-to-back 20-win seasons. With a 24-8 record and an NCAA Tournament second round appearance in 2004-05, Semrau and her staff guided the Seminoles to one of the program’s most successful seasons, which earned Semrau Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year accolades for the second time in her career. The honor was very deserving for not only what the team accomplished on the court, but for how Semrau helped her squad overcome a great deal of adversity.
Heading into the 2004-05 season, the team was dealing with devastating circumstances with the death of promising sophomore Ronalda Pierce, a projected starter who died suddenly in early June 2004. FSU would also be without two other projected starters so entering preseason conditioning, an already fragile team was without its top six scorers from the previous season. The roster was comprised of 10 players and of the 10, only five played the season before, one was coming back from a medical redshirt season and four others had never played a single minute as a Seminole.
FSU defied the odds in 2004-05 and for the first time in program history, the Seminoles made a national postseason tournament appearance for a third straight season. FSU’s fourth-place ACC finish in the expanded league race was no where near what the media had predicted. At ACC Media Day, the media picked FSU to finish eighth in the 12-team league which proved to be four spots too low. The Seminoles began the season on a mission and with a perfect 12-0 record. It was not only the best start in program history, but the most consecutive wins an FSU women’s basketball team has ever strung together. But that was just the beginning of the “firsts” Semrau would lead FSU to in 2004-05. Once the ACC season began, the Seminoles won three straight overtime games in the same week over ranked league teams. FSU broke into the national rankings in January and spent five weeks there. It was the first time FSU had been ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll since December 2001 and the Seminoles earned their highest ranking ever in the poll at No. 19. When the team broke into the Associated Press rankings, it was the first time since 1990-91. In February, the team earned its 20th victory of the season. It was the first time since 1990-91 that FSU had earned 20 or more wins and just the fifth time ever in the program’s history.
Semrau, herself, admits that over the years, she has grown in many ways as a head coach and in that process, she has tried to pattern her coaching philosophies after coaches that she admires and respects. One of those coaches is Florida State’s very own Bobby Bowden. Sure, who wouldn’t want to imitate the actions of a coaching legend? But what people may not realize is that when Coach Bowden arrived in Tallahassee in 1976, he was facing a situation that was very similar to what Semrau faced when she came to FSU in 1997. The Seminole football team had won just four games combined in the two years before Bowden arrived. The Seminole women’s basketball team had won just five games and had gone 0-16 in the ACC the season prior to Semrau’s arrival. Both had huge challenges ahead of them and both committed themselves to revitalizing their respective programs. Bowden’s success speaks for itself. He took a football program that FSU was considering discontinuing and turned it into a national power. In nine seasons, Semrau, has taken a program from the cellar of the ACC and turned it into a program that is respected not only in the state of Florida and in the ACC, but in the nation as well.
The daunting task that faced Semrau in 1997 when she was named Florida State’s third head coach in as many years certainly would have persuaded others to run the other way, but not Semrau. She had a passion and a desire to build and she wasn’t going to let anything get in her way. Now, Florida State is reaping the benefits of Semrau’s determination and Florida State women’s basketball is definitely back on the map. Under Semrau’s direction, the Seminoles have made five postseason appearances in the past six years, including a program-best four straight, have been nationally-ranked and have finished in the ACC top four, four times.
|
