Sollars WCC Coach of the Year!

It's a sweep! UP Women's Coach Jim Sollars was named 2009 WCC Coach of the Year! LINK

WCC Coach of the Year
Jim Sollars, Portland

Player of the Year
Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga

Defensive Player of the Year
Louella Tomlinson, Saint Mary’s

Newcomer of the Year
Alex Cowling, LMU

2009 All-Conference Team
Miranda Ayim, PEP - SO - F
Heather Bowman, GON - JR - F
Laiken Dollente, POR - JR - G
Vivian Frieson, GON - JR - F
Kiva Herman, USD - SR - F
Shay Rollins, USF - SR - G
Amber Sprague, USD - SR - C
Louella Tomlinson, SMC - SO - F
Courtney Vandersloot, GON - SO - G
Renahy Young, LMU - SO - G

Honorable Mention
LMU: Alex Cowling, Cassady Moore
POR: Lauren Angel, Karlie Burris, Tara Cronin
PEP: Nakeya Isabell, Jazmine Jackson
SCU: Lena Gipson

2009 All-Freshman Team
Kelly Bowen, GON - G
Dominque Connors, USD - G
Alex Cowling, LMU - F
Alexis Gannis, POR - F
Jazmine Jackson, PEP - G

This one is particularly sweet. I recall folks calling for Jim's head on a stick early in the season. A great honor for a great guy.

Laiken is clearly one of the exciting players in the conference. it's nice to see her get the nod.

And Lauren, Karlie, and Tara also deserve the honors.
and Alexis is just starting to show herself, it'll be nice to watch her three more years.

I'd like to mention the Senior of the bunch.
Karlie Burris has been a joy to watch. Great defensive effort, great rebounding skill, and fits into the offense wherever she's needed, be it as a forward, off guard or sometimes running the point. We''ll only get a couple more shots at seeing her play, so get out and see the team during the tournament.

All right. I will admit I was frustrated at times this season. But I really didn't want to believe that coaching was a problem. Sollars has been here for as long as I've been watching the Pilots. And he's brought class to the bench all through the years. He certainly deserves this honor and I'm very happy to see it go to such a gentleman.

All the players who were named are very deserving. Dollente is a joy to watch, Angel has had a breakout year, and Cronin and Burris are the players you can rely on to do a little of everything well--whatever is needed in the game. And Gannis has had some very good games in her first year.

Coach Sollars comment, from Jim Beseda's oregonlive article:

"I'd like to thank my coaching peers for voting me coach of the year," Sollars said. "That was awfully nice, although perhaps unwarranted. I don't think I'm a lot smarter now than I was when we were 4-24. I think we just have better players."