There are plenty of athletic players who can succeed on the court, and plenty of brilliant coaches who can succeed on the sideline, but it takes a special person to succeed at both. Theresa Grentz is such a person: the 1974 national POY won 3 AIAW titles at Immaculata, then won another title as coach of Rutgers in 1982 before being named national COY in 1987. She won more than 650 games as a coach, and now that she is back on the sideline at Lafayette she has a good shot at getting #700. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Grentz about becoming the 1st full-time women’s coach in the nation and ending up in the Hall of Fame.
You planned to go to college out of state but after your family’s house burned down you decided to stay in Pennsylvania: how did your life change as a result of the fire, and why did you pick Immaculata College? We lost everything in the fire. My mom had wanted me to go to Immaculata but I had a full scholarship to go to Mt. St. Mary’s. I had arranged for an interview at Immaculata the day of the fire and after rescheduling it I decided to go there. It took my life in an entirely different direction.
You played for Hall of Fame coach Cathy Rush: what made her such a great coach, and what was the most important thing you ever learned from her? At the time she was married to NBA referee Ed Rush, so she was looking for something to do while Ed was on the road. There was an opening at Immaculata and she decided to take the job. She was ahead of her time and very organized: she was a student of the game and taught us about promptness and attention to detail.
Your Mighty Macs won 3 straight AIAW national titles from 1972-1974 and were later inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014: what made your team so dominant, and where does it rank among the best teams in women’s basketball history? You are always biased about your own team. We had virtuous friendships that lasted the test of time, which is what made our team great. When we get together for reunions we think back several decades to a team for the ages. It was a neat night when we were inducted: we felt very fortunate.
Your 1974 AIAW title game win over Mississippi College was 1 of the 1st-ever live TV broadcasts of a women’s basketball game in the US: how big a deal was it at the time? It was very fun and a step in the right direction: we played a style of basketball that people enjoyed watching.
You were a 3-time 1st-team All-American and the 1974 national POY: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I really had no idea what it meant. There was not as much publicity back then so most people were watching John Wooden’s UCLA teams featuring Bill Walton. It was nice to be compared to a star like Walton but the AIAW did not like giving out awards: perhaps they did not want the runners-up to get their feelings hurt. The key to our success was not any 1 person: what made it great was that we won as a team.
In 1975 you were hired by Rutgers to become the 1st full-time women’s basketball head coach in the nation: why did they decide to make it a full-time job, and how much competition was there for the position? I coached part-time at St. Joe’s for a couple of years before going to Rutgers. At the time I arrived in New Jersey I coached 2 separate practices: 1 for the JV and 1 for the varsity. When you look at the 7-figure coaching salaries today and compare it to my $13,500 salary at Rutgers it is hard to believe! I never did it for money because that would have been no fun.
In 1982 your team had a 6-PT win over Texas in the last-ever AIAW national title game: what did it mean to you to win a title, and was it extra-special to win it in Philly? It was definitely special because most of my team was from Philly and knew the Palestra well: some of them had even attended high school right down the street! It was phenomenal to win the title over a prestigious school like Texas and an amazing coach like Jody Conradt. I got a letter from Rutgers alum Sonny Werblin who said that he was thrilled that we won…but he never thought that Scarlet Knights’ 1st title would be in women’s basketball.
In the 1992 Olympic semifinals as head coach of team USA you had a 6-PT loss to the eventual-champion Unified Team before beating Cuba for the bronze medal: how did a team with superstars such as Cynthia Cooper/Teresa Edwards/Teresa Weatherspoon end up with what remains the only loss by a US Olympic women’s basketball team since 1976? The other team scored more points! We shot very poorly that night from the floor as well as from the FT line.
In 2001 you were inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? That was a fun evening because it was the very same day as my parents’ 50th anniversary. Anytime you receive those kind of honors you appreciate it the most when you look back on it later in life, but now that I am coaching again I have decided not to look back on it just yet.
You retired as a head coach in 2007 and spent many years running your own basketball academy: what made you decide to get back on the sideline when you were hired by Lafayette in April to become their new head coach? I really had not planned to do that: I had originally agreed to go to Lafayette for 6 months to replace an assistant coach who had left. After the season they asked me to help find a new coach…and then they asked me if I wanted to become the head coach. I interviewed with the president of the school and the next thing you know I got the job. I feel that I can offer a lot from the teaching side. People say that attendance/viewership of women’s basketball is down but we have proven that people enjoy watching that kind of basketball. It is a great academic school and we can recruit some great players so I am glad to be doing it. I was the 1st full-time women’s coach and now I am the 1st women to get back into coaching after retiring for 7 years.