Goodenbour leaves Wildcats for Anteaters

After only two seasons at Chico State, women's head basketball coach Molly Goodenbour has left Division II play to take on the head coaching position at UC Irvine Monday.

Her presence at Chico State has brought back a lot of school spirit, tying the most wins in school history at 28, having a 13-0 record at Acker Gym and snagging the conference championship just during the last season. However, there was also controversy with the departure of All-American forward Amber Simmons.

However, after Goodenbour's immaculate 52-11 overall record for the Wildcats, she accepted a four-year contract with the Division I Anteaters, according to the UC Irvine Web site. The head coach position will be awarded to former head assistant coach Brian Fogel who coached the men's basketball team at UC Davis from 1998 to 2003. After one year as an assistant, Fogel will attempt to continue the team's streak of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the past six years.

Fogel is fully capable of conquering this challenge with almost 20 years of coaching experience and a Sweet 16 appearance in the 1999-2000 season. While at UC Davis, Fogel's team won 66 percent of its games and reached the NCAA Tournament twice.

On the other side of the court, Goodenbour is set to coach a team that hasn't had a winning record since 2002-03 and went 7-24 last season. She will attempt to rebuild that program just as she did at Chico State, and will have to do it after two record-breaking seasons.

Fogel will now take over Goodenbour's place with a team that Goodenbour constructed with all but two of the players recruited by her. This will be the first time that Fogel has been the head coach of a women's team, but he is expected to keep the ball rolling.

Fogel already has a good relationship with the players, and he will display his coaching ability on the court when the team's season begins Nov. 20 against Alaska Fairbanks at Acker Gym.

Mike Wagner can be reached at mwagner@theorion.com

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