Thursday, August 9, 2012

Women's Basketball: Oletzke finally settles in at UIS

After a few nights of sleeping on the floor, new University of Illinois Springfield women’s basketball coach Chad Oletzke sat in his office last week eagerly awaiting a phone call to alert him that his furniture had finally arrived.

With a strong desire to set up home, he was ready to drop what he was doing.

For the past two months, Oletzke has been busy getting situated. He’s getting out in the community. He was a guest speaker at a kids camp at Springfield Racquet and Fitness Center. The 38-year-old appears to be settling into his new job.

“As I was going through June and July it felt like I was making no progress,” Oletzke said. “Now that we’re getting into August, some of that stuff has started to come together.”

Oletzke brings 15 years of coaching experience to UIS, where he started his new position in the first week of June. The Minnesota native replaced Marne Fauser after her contract was not renewed. He was an assistant coach at NCAA Division I South Dakota State the previous three seasons.

Oletzke was featured in a August 9, 2012, in the State Journal-Register.

Read the article online