Former Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball head coach Nancy Winstel is the recipient of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s 2015 Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her lifelong commitment of service to women’s basketball, the organization announced on Tuesday.
Winstel boasted a 636-214 overall record in her 29 years at the helm for NKU. She led the Norse to three national championship games, claiming the title in 2000 and ’08. She was named the national coach of the decade by Women’s Division II Bulletin in 2009, and her basketball program was also tabbed the best during that decade by that same publication.
A six-time Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Winstel was named the WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year in 1999-2000 after leading the Norse to their first national championship title.
Prior to her career with the Norse, Winstel spend three seasons as the head coach at Midway College and posted a 39-41 record. She finished her collegiate coaching career with 675 wins, which ranks No. 3 all-time in NCAA Division II history.
Winstel was a member of the first NKU women’s basketball team and played for the Norse from 1974-77. She received her degree in physical education and history in 1977 and earned her master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis on coaching in 1978 from Indiana University.
Winstel will be recognized during the WBCA Awards Show, which will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 6. This event is part of the WBCA National Convention and is held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women’s Final Four® in Tampa Bay.
The award, sponsored by Jostens, is named in honor of the late Senda Berenson, who in her role as a physical education instructor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, introduced basketball to her female gym students in 1892.
This presentation marked the birth of the women’s game, which occurred the year following basketball’s invention by Dr. James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts.
From NKU Athletics