Blue Star Operations

Theresa Grentz

Hall of Famer Theresa Grentz re-joined Blue Star in 2017, as she was a part of the Blue Star family back in 2012. Grentz has accumulated 681 wins during her 35-year head coaching career that has included stops at Rutgers, Illinois, St. Joseph’s, and Lafayette.

In her career, Grentz made a postseason tournament in 25 of her 35 seasons. She has also posted seventeen 20-win seasons and produced three WNBA draft picks. She was a founding member of the Women’s Coaches Basketball Association, was an executive board member and served as the organization’s president for two years. She has been honored as Coach of the Year on 16 occasions.

In 1990, Grentz led the USA National Team to a pair of gold medals at the World Championships in Malaysia and the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Wash. Two years later she guided the USA Olympic Team to a bronze medal in Barcelona. In 2001 Grentz was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Grentz’s most recent head coaching job was at the University of Illinois where she spent 12 seasons from 1995-2007 in charge, leaving with a program-record 210 wins, a Big Ten Championship and five NCAA Tournament appearances. During her time in charge of the Fighting Illini, the team made a postseason tournament in 10 of her 12 seasons after not having any postseason appearances in the eight years prior to her arrival.

Grentz was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons, 1996-97 and 1997-98 and was also honored as the Kodak District IV Coach of the Year after both seasons. In 2007, she was presented with Carol Eckman Award by the WBCA, given annually to an active WBCA coach who exemplifies Eckman’s spirit, integrity and character through sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and dedication to purpose.

Prior to her 12-year run at Illinois, Grentz was the head coach at Rutgers University for 19 seasons from 1976-95, becoming the first full-time women’s basketball head coach in the country. With the Scarlet Knights, she won 434 games, a program record, and the AIAW National Championship in 1982.

She also reached the NCAA Tournament in nine consecutive seasons and won four Atlantic 10 championships, posting 20 or more wins in 14 seasons. Grentz was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year four times. She was also charter member of the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Poll during her time at Rutgers.

Grentz began her head coaching career at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia in 1974. She accumulated a 27-5 record in two seasons as the head coach.

As an undergraduate at Immaculata, Grentz was a three-time All-American for the Mighty Macs, where she was a member of three National Championship teams, serving as the team captain during the 1973-74 season. A movie on the team’s accomplishments, titled “The Mighty Macs,” was released in the United States in 2011, and in 2014 Grentz and her teammates were inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Grentz’s playing career began at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Pa., where she led her team to three consecutive Philadelphia Catholic and City League titles. She was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1996, and she was named the Female Athlete of the Millennium in Delaware County by The Delaware County Times in 1999.

During her seven-year hiatus from basketball, Grentz served as the Vice President for University Advancement at her alma mater Immaculata. She also provided in-game color analysis and play by play for Big Ten Women’s basketball on the Big Ten Network from 2007-10.

In April of 2012, Grentz founded Grentz Elite Coaching, an elite and private academy dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of basketball to young girls and boys. Grentz Elite Coaching also teaches coaches of all levels on how to get the most out of their players and how to achieve their goals.

Grentz is married to her college sweetheart Karl. The couple has two grown sons together, Karl Justin and Kevin and resides in Pennsylvania.