New EWU women's b-ball coach named

CHENEY - Eastern Washington has reached across the Cascades to find its new head women's basketball coach.

Eagles athletics director Lynn Hickey announced May 21 that Seattle University associate head coach Joddie Gleason will replace Wendy Schuller who did not have her contract renewed. Gleason was officially introduced in Cheney on May 24.

Gleason takes over after five seasons as Seattle University's associate head coach and has 12 years of head coaching experience at D-II Humboldt State.

"I can't wait to start working with this group of young women and to build something special that the passionate Eagle fans can be proud of," Gleason said in a news release.

At SU, Gleason worked as the team's offensive coordinator where she was responsible for implementing practice plans and scouting reports. In her tenure with the Redhawks, Seattle U was in the top-three in scoring offense in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 2018, 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Gleason helped coach the Redhawks to the program's first-ever WAC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017-18. The year prior, Seattle U advanced to the WAC title game and qualified for the WNIT for the first time since 2013.

Gleason also coached seven WAC All-Conference selections, two WAC Freshman of the Year honorees, two WAC Defensive Players of the Year and the 2021 Seattle Sports Commission Female Sports Star of the Year. Additionally, six players continued to play professionally oversees and the Redhawks maintained a team grade point average over 3.4.

At Humboldt State University Gleason compiled an overall record of 201-137 and was the program's all-time winningest coach upon her departure.

Under her leadership, the Lumberjacks qualified for the NCAA D-II Tournament four times and won two California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships. In 2015, she was named the CCAA Coach of the Year after the guiding the Lumberjacks to a 23-6 overall record and a regular season title.

Gleason also served as the head coach at Butte Community College from 1999-2004 where she compiled a 107-45 overall record in five seasons.

he received her Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (1992), a teaching credential (1994) and a Master of Arts in Kinesiology (2000) from California State University, Chico.

 Gleason and her husband, Skip, who is currently an assistant coach for the women's basketball program at Seattle U, have a 10-year-old daughter named Raimee.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].