Barmore retires for the second time

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Associated Press


RUSTON, La. -- Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore announced his retirement Thursday, the second time in less than three years that he has stepped away from the program he helped build into a national power over the past 25 years.

Barmore had retired in March of 2000 just before the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He was lured back by university administrators after a regional final loss to Penn State and after longtime Tech assistant coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson turned down the job and went to Baylor.

"I wish I could coach the Lady Techster basketball team and work for President Dan Reneau and athletic director Jim Oakes forever, but I can't,'' Barmore, 57, said in a news release. He did not go into the reasons for stepping down.

He began as an assistant in 1977-78 under Sonja Hogg, who guided the team to national prominence as interest in women's college basketball grew. He was named associate head coach for the 1980-81 season, and was named co-head coach the next season.

He became the program's lone head coach when Hogg left in 1985.

Barmore, with an overall record of 576-87 as head coach at Tech, led the Lady Techsters to 20 consecutive winning seasons and NCAA tournaments with a record that includes nine Final Four appearances, five national championship games and the 1988 national title.

Barmore won at least 30 games in 13 seasons, and in 2000-01, became the first coach in Division I college basketball history to record six consecutive 30-win seasons. His all-time winning percentage (.869) at La. Tech ranks No.1 among men's or women's collegiate coaches. Counting his time as an assistant with the Lady Techsters, and as a head boys basketball coach at Bastrop (La.) High School and Ruston High School, Barmore's career record is 808-177.

Athletic Director Jim Oakes and Louisiana Tech's athletic council met Friday and picked Kurt Budke, a Barmore assistant, to succeed him.

Barmore's retirement comes on the heels of a 25-5 season that saw the Lady Techsters win the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and advance to the program's 21st straight NCAA Tournament. Louisiana Tech and Tennessee are the only two programs that have participated in every NCAA Tournament.

Center Cheryl Ford, who is the lone returning senior on the team, said she would miss her head coach.

"Playing for him has been good," she said. "Of course I am going to miss him, and he is going to miss us. I've been crying all morning and I called my dad and talked to him about it. I wish he would finish coaching me, but that is being a little selfish. If he thinks this is the best thing for him, then I completely understand."

While there will be a number of things he misses, Barmore said he miss his players the most.

"I will miss coaching Cheryl Ford her senior year," he said. "I will miss coaching Catrina Frierson, Erica Smith and Amber Obaze. All four will be in the WNBA someday. I will miss coaching a very talented group of newcomers. I will miss coaching for our fans."

Barmore, who coached Tech to 13 regular season titles in 15 years as a member of either the American South, Sun Belt or Western Athletic Conferences, has coached 12 Kodak All-Americans, 14 players who have been selected in the WNBA draft, and 37 first-team all-conference selections.

Several of his former players and assistants are college or WNBA coaches, including Nell Fortner (WNBA's Indiana Fever), Gary Blair (Arkansas), Kristy Curry (Purdue), Kim Mulkey-Robertson (Baylor) and Angela Lawson (Incarnate Word).

"It's important that I recognize the coaches that have worked with and for me," Barmore said. "I give them all the credit in making Louisiana Tech Lady Techster basketball what it is today."