Melissa Ringhausen is entering her 13th season as the head coach of the McKendree University women's basketball program. In her 12 seasons at McKendree, Ringhausen has shaped the Bearcat program into one that combines success both on and off the court.
Under Ringhausen's leadership, McKendree has qualified for the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship eight times in the last 11 years and has finished in the NAIA Division I top 25 in three of the past five years. In 2007-08, the Bearcats were the American Midwest Conference regular season and tournament champions. The Bearcats also qualified for their fifth consecutive trip to the NAIA Division I National Championship.
The Bearcats finished last season with their seventh consecutive 20-win season, and ninth overall with Ringhausen at the helm. McKendree has enjoyed regular-season AMC dominance with a 103-30 mark in conference play under Ringhausen's guidance.
Ringhausen has been recognized for her on-court success at McKendree. She is a six-time recipient of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association-NAIA Coach of the Year award and was also 2007-08 AMC Coach of the Year.
More important to Ringhausen and her staff is the success produced in the classroom by her student-athletes. McKendree has been ranked as one of the NAIA's top academic teams by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association on six different occasions, including a No. 2 rank in 2002. Her program can boast a 100 percent graduation rate among those who completed their four years in the program.
Since the beginning of the 1997-98 season, Ringhausen has coached 131 Academic All-Conference performers and 35 NAIA Scholar-Athlete honorees. She has also guided 20 first-team All-Conference players, two NAIA All-Americans, two Kodak All-Americans, three AMC Freshmen of the Year and one AMC Player of the Year.
Ringhausen's coaching achievements grew from her success as a student-athlete at Ottawa University in Kansas. She was a two-time All-Conference player for the Braves, and was one of just a handful of players in team history to reach the 1,000-point mark in a career. Ringhausen was twice named as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete.
After graduating from Ottawa with a degree in biology in 1994, Ringhausen went on to earn her master's degree in exercise physiology and biomechanics from the University of Kansas in 1996. She moved on to William Jewell College, serving as an assistant coach before arriving at McKendree in the summer of 1997.
Ringhausen and her husband, Lance, reside in Shiloh. Lance Ringhausen has been the head athletic trainer at McKendree University since 1996.
