Kathi Bennett

Kathi Bennett

Player Profile

Hometown:
Clintonville, Wis.

High School:
Stevens Point

Last College:
UW-Green Bay

Position:
Head Coach

Experience:
2nd Season

02/04/2012

Huskies Avenge Last Year's MAC Tourney Loss to Ohio

Jakubicek and Davis each score 16 points

02/03/2012

Huskies Host Ohio on Saturday Afternoon

NIU looking to avenge last year's MAC Tournament loss

02/01/2012

Huskies Fall at Bowling Green, 57-47

Jakubicek leads all scorers with 17 points

01/28/2012

Huskies Take Down Kent State, 66-55

Shelton scores season-high 23 points

01/25/2012

Huskies Earn First Win at Akron Since 2006

NIU improves to 5-2 when have three score in double figures

Press Conference Photo Gallery

What They Are Saying About Kathi Bennett

Career Summary in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

Kathi Bennett, a veteran collegiate head coach who has guided three programs to eight NCAA Tournaments and five conference championships while posting a career winning percentage of .613, was named head women's basketball coach at Northern Illinois University, May 18 2010. Bennett is the ninth head coach in program history.

"Kathi brings experience, she brings knowledge of the game, excellent communication skills and above all, she cares about the student-athletes," said NIU Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Jeff Compher. They will work hard, play hard and have a great experience. I am confident this program will make significant competitive strides and, under Kathi's direction, will achieve our goal to compete for conference championships in the near future."

In just one season, Bennett's impact has already been felt. Under her guidance, the Huskies went from a 10-win team in 2009-10 to a 13-win team in 2010-11, despite losing three starters. More importantly, NIU improved from a 4-12 record in Mid-American Conference play to a 7-9 mark last season.

Thanks to Bennett's signature pack defense, NIU held opponents to less than 40 percent shooting in 15 of 30 games. Opponents were stifled to less than 30 percent shooting on five occasions. Along the way, Bennett also collected her 300th career win to join her father, legendary coach Dick Bennett, on the 300-career-win list.

Bennett came to NIU after two seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin, where she coached the Badgers' defense and was instrumental in UW making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in eight years in 2010. Wisconsin finished tied for third in the league and led the Big Ten in scoring defense in 2010 after ranking 10th in the league in that category prior to her arrival.

A native of Stevens Point, Wis., Bennett is the sister of University of Virginia head men's basketball coach Tony Bennett; her father won 316 games as a collegiate coach at Washington State, Wisconsin, UW-Green Bay and UW-Stevens Point. Kathi Bennett played collegiately at both Stevens Point and Green Bay and earned her bachelor's degree from UW-Green Bay in 1986.

Bennett's 18 years of experience as a collegiate head coach include stops at Marycrest College (1988-89), Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1989-96), Evansville (1996-2000) and Indiana (2000-05). Her career record of 309-194 includes 12 winning campaigns and nine postseason appearances. Bennett is looking forward to developing another winner at Northern Illinois.

"I'm a builder. It's who I am. I know that's what is in me," Bennett said. "The opportunity to build this program... that thumps in my heart."

Fundamental to Bennett's formula for building programs are the "five cornerstones:" passion, servanthood, unity, humility and thankfulness. Developed by her father, Bennett has implemented the cornerstones in their current form since her days at Evansville.

"(The cornerstones) are intangible qualities that we want to instill and stand for in our program," Bennett said. "Hopefully when our players leave, they are things they will carry with them."

Bennett was successful coaching even before the cornerstones were inked into her coaching handbook. Under her guidance, UW-Oshkosh won the 1996 NCAA Division III National Championship with a perfect 31-0 record after playing in the national title game the previous season. She was named Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five times and was the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Division III Coach of the Year in 1996.

At Evansville, Bennett took over a program that had an all-time record of 18-113, engineered a 13-game turnaround and led the Purple Aces to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1999. She was named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year that season. In 1999-2000, she led Evansville to a school-record 23 wins and a WNIT berth.

The next year, Bennett took over an Indiana program that went 10-18 the year before. Immediately, the Hoosiers embarked on a seven-game winning streak, their longest in two years. Under Bennett's guidance, the Hoosiers doubled their win total to finish with a 20-11 record, and tied for sixth in the Big Ten standings, their best finish since 1997-98.

A season later, Bennett's 2002 Indiana team won the Big Ten Conference Tournament title as the No. 5 seed, defeating No. 1 seed Purdue and regular season champion Penn State. It was the first trip to the NCAA Tournament for Indiana since 1994-95. In five years in Bloomington, Bennett's Hoosier teams defeated six Top 25 opponents and claimed a pair of victories over Top 10 foes. For her part, Bennett is confident that Northern Illinois' women's basketball team can and will be successful.

"This is a place where we can contend for the MAC title, and become a player on the national scene," she said. "The university is diverse, it's strong academically and it is big enough - with 24,000 students - to offer a great atmosphere, but small enough to give its students personal attention. The location and the facilities are excellent. I'm excited to work with Dr. Peters, Jeff Compher and the rest of the staff to reach our goals."

Year School W-L Pct. Position Highlights
1988-89 Marycrest College 18-10 .643 Head Coach First season as a coach
1989-90 UW-Oshkosh 17-7 .708 Head Coach NCAA D-III Tournament Second Round
1990-91 UW-Oshkosh 21-5 .808 Head Coach NCAA D-III Tournament Second Round, WIAC Coach of the Year
1991-92 UW-Oshkosh 18-6 .750 Head Coach NCAA D-III Tournament First Round
1992-93 UW-Oshkosh 16-8 .667 Head Coach
1993-94 UW-Oshkosh 24-3 .889 Head Coach NCAA D-III Tournament Quarterfinals, WIAC Coach of the Year
1994-95 UW-Oshkosh 28-3 .903 Head Coach NCAA D-III National Runner-Up
1995-96 UW-Oshkosh 31-0 1.000 Head Coach NCAA D-III National Championship, WBCA NCAA D-III Coach of the Year, WIAC Coach of the Year
1996-97 Evansville 3-23 .115 Head Coach Took over a program that had a 18-113 all-time record
1997-98 Evansville 6-20 .231 Head Coach
1998-99 Evansville 19-11 .633 Head Coach First NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, Missouri Valley Coach of the Year
1999-2000 Evansville 23-7 .767 Head Coach WNIT First Round
2000-01 Indiana 20-11 .645 Head Coach
2001-02 Indiana 17-14 .548 Head Coach Big Ten Tournament Champions, NCAA D-I Tournament First Round
2002-03 Indiana 13-15 .464 Head Coach Team USA Assistant Coach, Pan American Games
2003-04 Indiana 12-17 .429 Head Coach Big Ten Conference All-Star Team Head Coach
2004-05 Indiana 10-18 .357 Head Coach
2008-09 Wisconsin 21-11 .656 Assistant Coach Took UW from 10th to second in Big Ten scoring defense
2009-10 Wisconsin 19-15 .559 Assistant Coach Badgers led Big Ten in scoring defense (56.2 ppg)
2009-10 Wisconsin 19-15 .559 Assistant Coach Badgers led Big Ten in scoring defense (56.2 ppg)
2010-11 Northern Illinois 13-17 .433 Head Coach Improved wins by 30%, 75% in conference, from prior year
Total 353-221 .615 15 winning seasons in 20 years as a coach
Total (Head Coach) 309-194 .613 Nine postseason appearances, National Championship
Women's Basketball
Social Media
youtube facebook twitter
Husky Happenings
Blog
Interactive Guides
I Guides
All-Access
All-Access
Virtual 360 Tours
360 Tour
Toolbar
Toolbar
NCAA Logo  Mid-American Conference Logo ISP NIU EDU