WBCA honors Parkside's Reigel

Sunday, May 13, 2007 2:20 AM CDT

Special to The Journal Times

Luke Reigel's success in turning around the UW-Parkside men's basketball program hasn't gone unnoticed.

Coming off a 19-13 record and the first NCAA Division II tournament bid in men's basketball in school history, Reigel has been selected as the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year for NCAA Divisions II and III and NAIA (non-Division I).

Reigel was selected for the honor by the WBCA's Executive Committee and will be presented with his award at the WBCA Coaches Association Hall of Fame banquet Oct. 2 in Madison.

"This is great recognition for our university and for how we are building our basketball program here at UW-Parkside," Reigel said in a statement issued by the school's athletic department. "My assistants and players have worked extremely hard to make this program successful and this is an award I will most definitely share with them."

In Reigel's four-season tenure as the Rangers' head coach, Parkside has made consistent progress, going from an 8-19 record in the 2003-04 season to 19-18 in 2004-05 to 15-13 in 2005-06, the first time in 16 seasons the Rangers had a winning record.

A former Wilmot High School and UW-Platteville standout, Reigel served as the Rangers' top assistant coach for three years before being promoted to head coach prior to the 2003-04 season. Reigel played two seasons at Platteville under current University of Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. Reigel later served as an assistant coach at Platteville before coming to Parkside.

"It doesn't surprise me that a person with Luke's basketball IQ has received the first of what I am sure will be many coaching awards," Ryan said in a statement. "As a player and assistant at UW-Platteville, he had one of the keenest basketball minds I've come across ... I was very fortunate to have Luke as both a player and assistant coach at Platteville and am extremely proud of what he has accomplished at Parkside."

Reigel started all four years for his father, Tom Reigel, at Wilmot, including a perfect 27-0 season in 1990-91. Reigel's father now serves as an assistant at Parkside.

Reigel's emphasis at Parkside has been on recruiting top players from the southeastern Wisconsin area. Among the Rangers' starters Reigel has recruited are LaVontay Fenderson of Racine (St. Catherine's), Brad Ferstenou (Burlington), Kyle Clark (Kenosha St. Joseph) and Tyrone Deacon, the son of Burlington Catholic Central boys' basketball coach Paul Deacon who played his high school ball at Bay Port in Green Bay.

Among the Rangers' victories last season was a 77-71 preseason victory over UW-Milwaukee, an NCAA Division I team. Parkside lost 74-60 to Findlay University of Ohio in a first-round game in the NCAA Division II tournament's Great Lakes Regional.

"This is a well-deserved honor for Coach Reigel," said UW-Superior coach Dave Buchanan, who served as Reigel's top assistant at Parkside for three seasons before being named head coach at Superior. "He has worked hard to build a competitive program at Parkside and it's nice to see him recognized for it. Being able to make the NCAA tournament in his fourth year as head coach speaks volumes for how far the program has come, and his vision is the main reason for that."

Baseball

Junior outfielder Andy Heller, who led UW-Parkside in hitting with a .374 batting average, earned first-team honors on the 2007 All-Great Lakes Valley Conference baseball team.

A former Kenosha St. Joseph standout, Heller was second in the GLVC in home runs with five and second in the conference in total bases with 95.

Heller was the only player from Parkside to be named to the All-GLVC team.

Second baseman Darin Mastroianni of Southern Indiana was named the GLVC's Player of the Year and Matt Marksbury of Northern Kentucky was named the GLVC's Pitcher of the Year.

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