Genoa grad Amy Sander earns second national crown as coach on Minnesota State staff

Amy Sander has been a coach at Minnesota State University-Mankato for 16 years.

The Mavericks won their first Division II national championship for women’s basketball Sander’s first season on the staff and another this year. That’s not why she stayed.

“The people,” she said. “I love who I work with and the players we get to recruit and build relationships with. That’s what it’s all about. You want to win, you have national championships in the back of your head, you enjoy the people more.”

Minnesota State had to win its conference tournament or risk being left out of the next tourney. It was a harbinger of the team’s response to pressure.

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The Mavericks forced a turnover and Emily Herzberg scored right before the buzzer off a sideline inbound to win a national semifinal.

“Being the only team left standing, ending on a win, your group was able to finish things off,” Sander said. “It’s great to do it with a great group of selfless people. Winning a national championship isn’t something everybody gets to do, so you want to enjoy every moment.”

Minnesota State is the first to win a national crown for women’s and men’s basketball since Central Missouri in Division II 40 years ago.

Three girls earned first-team all-league status for Minnesota State, including All-American Jody Batt. Twelve girls typically play.

“Anybody who knows Minnesota State and the women’s basketball program, they’ll say they have aggressive defense,” Sander said. “We create turnovers; we were second in the nation with 28 per game.

“A lot of the offense is transition, not through one player.”

Sander was the first recruit to Baldwin Wallace of Cheri Harrer’s career. Harrer is approaching 700 wins as head coach of a well-known program.

“Senior year we had the best record the school had [ever],” she said. “It was a rebuilding situation. It was only up from there. The next year was the first NCAA Tournament appearance.”

Sander played four years in college and started coaching as basketball and volleyball assistant at Albion College for three years until 2000. She was head volleyball coach and assistant basketball coach until 2005 as Buena Vista basketball won consecutive conference crowns and made two trips to the national tourney, including a regional semifinal victory.

She was head basketball coach at Nebraska Wesleyan the next three years. She started at Minnesota State in 2008 and has been associate head coach to Emilee Thiesse the last eight seasons.

“People ask, do you want to ever be a head coach again,” Sander said. “It’s not outside the realm, but grass isn’t always greener. If you like where you are and you feel valued, that’s what it’s about.

“Making a difference with our players and our program; I’m happy and I want to get better there.”

Sander played varsity basketball four years and graduated from Genoa in 1991 after collecting 1,000 career points. The Comets advanced to a regional final when Sander was a junior and won the Suburban Lakes League crown the next season.

She remains close, including vacations with four former teammates.

Minnesota State graduated one senior and returned five starters from a 26-5 team the year before. It was unanimous pick to win the conference and ranked second in the nation.

Two starters were injured during a 2-4 start to the season out of conference.

“It wasn’t what we imagined,” Sander said. “We had to regroup and rediscover.”

Minnesota State won 19 straight games to establish a program record. After clinching an outright conference crown with two weeks remaining, it lost for the final time before 11 consecutive victories.

“We had to focus on ourselves and drown out the noise,” Sander said. “When we faltered, we had to drown out the noise about ‘What’s wrong?’ We had to play to our standards. That’s not winning the conference or a national championship.

“That’s come to practice and each game play above our standard.”

Some coaches move to avoid something and others to chase something else. Sander stays.

“You never know as much as you think,” she said. “There are always new challenges, even with the same job for 16 years. You have to adjust with the times. You can’t coach players the same way.

“Everybody learns and responds in a different way. Athletes want to learn and get better. You have to find the best ways.”

mhorn@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Minnesota State University-Mankato women's national champ