Graduation Day is no picnic for Regis University basketball coach Linda Raunig.
“You parent them, you mentor them, you teach them, you cry with them, you share great victories in basketball and in life, and then they leave,” Raunig said mournfully.
Yet Graduation Day is what sets Raunig apart.
She will receive the coaching award from the Sportswomen of Colorado at Sunday’s banquet, but her greatest victory comes on Graduation Day.
In her 16 seasons at Regis, every player who has completed her eligibility has graduated.
And, if Raunig has met her goal, every player completing the journey from teenager to adulthood on the North Denver campus is a better person for the experience.
“The work ethic she instilled in all of us, we owe her for the rest of our lives,” said Jennifer Ludwig, a team captain and 2004 graduate who teaches elementary school. “It’s what we carry into our professional lives. She made us believe in something: the program. Those habits and values, you never let go of.”
While Raunig is as demanding about attending class as denying the post, she was the first to help former forward Haley MacNeil with class assignments as a freshman.
“She was patient, she told me it was just a transition from high school to college,” MacNeil said.
After her players enroll in class, Raunig sets the practice time rather than limiting her players’ class choices by setting practice time before she knows their schedules. When players do miss practice for class, she schedules extra drill time.
“Every single day, you come across people who don’t work as hard or who take things for granted,” MacNeil said. “Being in this program, you appreciate what you have.”
The rigors of suicide sprints pale compared to what MacNeil experiences as a teacher. “I have seventh- and eighth-graders reading at a fourth-grade level, so every day is a challenge,” she said.
A three-time all-state player in Helena, Mont., Raunig starred in basketball at the University of Denver, which retired her jersey and inducted her into its Hall of Fame. Following assistant coaching jobs at Washington State, where she earned a master’s degree, Arizona State and Ball State, she was hired at Regis in 1990 when coach Barbara Schroeder accepted the athletic director position.
After two losing seasons in her first five years, Raunig developed a program that has churned out winners since.
The Division II Rangers have the best winning percentage in women’s basketball (.711) in any division in Colorado since 1998. Regis has had eight consecutive winning seasons and has won the last two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season titles, with Raunig earning conference coach of the year both seasons.
The Rangers have placed in the top 10 of the Div. II academic team honor roll in that same seven-year span. Over Raunig’s 16 years, 104 players have made the dean’s list with 3.7 or better grade-point averages.
Raunig strives to sum up her expectations on a locker room sign: Be respectful, be responsible, be honest, be loyal.
At the first team meeting each fall, she explains how she wants her players to treat their professors, as well as the team trainer.
In her first day on the job, fourth-year assistant Vanessa Bain said she was struck by Raunig’s concern for her players when a freshman was having difficulty figuring out her financial aid package. Raunig immediately crossed campus with the player to iron out the problem.
“The thing I noticed the most was the level of detail,” Bain said.
Raunig said she strives to personalize expectations.
“All we really ask is, ‘Do your best!”‘ she said. “For one kid, that’s going be a 2.8 GPA. And for another kid it is a 4.0.”
The rules are few and include no exposed bellies, and cellphones turned off during all team functions.
“Not silent, not vibrate – off,” Raunig said.
It took one player several years after her eligibility expired to graduate; others have struggled with family, boyfriends, risky behaviors.
Raunig recalled a meeting with one of her captains who made a poor decision.
“I told her, ‘If this was a job, this meeting would be about firing you. But because it is not a job and because you’re still in college and because I kind of like you, I’m going to work with you and show you the light here. We’re going to talk about how you should have reacted and what you will do in the future.”‘
Current captain Lindsay Viall didn’t play much as a freshman but felt she was still a big part of the team.
“I felt I was so important. I didn’t play much, but I never had the feeling I didn’t contribute. When we were cutting down the nets at the Shootout, I felt like, ‘Yeah, we’re cutting down the nets because I contributed in practice, I made Molly Marrin better.”‘
