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Daily Planet Staff 

After 12 years at the helm of the highly successful Santa Clara University women’s program, head basketball coach Caren Horstmeyer broke away from the Broncos on Monday, signing a five-year contract to become the new women’s coach at Cal.  

Horstmeyer, who put together a 221-124 record at Santa Clara, beat out a short list of serious candidates for the job that included Xavier head coach Melanie Balcomb and UCLA assistant Willette White. As the most successful coach in Broncos’ history, Horstmeyer hopes her offense-oriented coaching style will yield similar results for the struggling Cal program, which hasn’t compiled a winning season in seven years. 

“I am very excited and honored to be the new head basketball coach at Cal,” the 37-year old Santa Clara graduate said at Monday’s press conference. “I see tremendous potential, great support from the administration and new and exciting challenges ahead of us.” 

The decision to offer Horstmeyer the position was made by the Cal athletic department last Wednesday, after interviewing nearly a dozen candidates in the weeks since Marianne Stanley’s March 13 resignation. According to Cal Athletic Director John Kasser, the decision came down to Horstmeyer’s proven patience and success, as well as her keen ability to get the most out of college players. 

“Caren was the top choice, and the only one offered the job,” Kasser said. “We were looking for a person who had been a head coach as one of our primary criteria. We believed those types of leadership skills were needed to bring this program forward. The other aspects we were looking for was someone who had been a proven winner and who had developed student-athletes. Those are all areas which Caren has excelled in at Santa Clara.” 

Though the new coach is excited about the challenge at Cal, she did not find leaving her alma mater and longtime home especially easy. As a former four-year varsity player and multi-record holder with the Santa Clara women’s basketball program, Horstmeyer admits the move was unexpected and previously unconsidered. 

“I figured that I’d end my coaching career at Santa Clara,” the coach said. “I think that’s a real credit to Cal and the people who recruited me to come here as your coach. Because, honestly, I thought I was going to end my career at Santa Clara.” 

“We admire her loyalty to her players (at Santa Clara),” added Cal Associate Athletic Director Chris Dawson. “If it was easy to say goodbye, it probably wasn’t the kind of person we wanted.” 

Horstmeyer led the Broncos to an impressive 21-9 mark in 1999-2000, earning the squad a berth in the WNIT tournament, where it fell to USC in the opening round. The coach has taken six teams to the postseason – including four to the NCAA tourney – and has not had a losing season in over 10 years. The Broncos defeated the Bears early in the 1999-2000 season, giving most everyone in the Cal program a taste of the kind of upset she is capable of.  

“(The Broncos) were really disciplined, really well-coached,” said Cal guard Kenya Corley, who was held to 4-of-13 shooting in the December 2 meeting with Horstmeyer’s former squad. “Hopefully, it’ll rub off on us. We need to be really disciplined, too.” 

“There are players who are excited about the program and where it’s heading,” Horstmeyer added. “I saw Cal play this year, and it was exciting to see the kind of talent they have and the enthusiasm they have.” 

In light of the disappointing women’s basketball attendance figures of 1999-2000, one of the athletic department’s main goals was to hire an individual who could drum up community support, and sell the program to a town that already packs Haas Pavilion for men’s games. Horstmeyer expects to bring the community aspect that characterized her Santa Clara teams to Cal by hyping the program – a task she admits may require a winning record.  

“From a community standpoint, I see a lot of room for growth,” she said. “Young girls and families will be a big draw. They see these people as role models. They want to see the Cal women’s basketball players play...and sign autographs.” 

Horstmeyer indicated that the Cal job was one of the few positions that could possibly have lured her from her Santa Clara post, due to the university’s academic reputation. Despite Cal’s recent struggles with wins and losses, the coach believes the program is more appealing – both academically and athletically – to potential recruits than Santa Clara’s. Horstmeyer has lost recruits to the more prestigious Bears program in the past, and expects to have little trouble recruiting quality student-athletes to Berkeley. 

“I’ll have a better chance of getting the elite players at Cal than Santa Clara,” said the coach, who will have the immediate task of filling six open scholarships. “There’s a lot of work to be done.” 

“I believe the team we have in place has a chance to earn an NCAA tournament bid if they work hard, and everyone gets on the same page,” Kasser added. “As we have six scholarships available for next year, recruiting will also be very important.” 

Though terms for the five-year contract were not disclosed, Dawson indicated that Horstmeyer’s deal was similar, financially, to that of men’s head coach Ben Braun.