| 2006-07 Lady Blues Coaching Staff
Head Coach Ron McHenry | Email
Assistant Coach Dustin Odum | Email
Assistant Coach Toni Gross | Email
Student Assistant Coach Lora Westling
Student Assistant Coach Carla Sintra
Click for bio
Ron McHenry
Head Coach  Coaching Section from media guide
Since his appointment as head coach prior to the 2000-01 season, Ron McHenry has quickly returned the Washburn women’s basketball program to national prominence.
In seven seasons on the Lady Blues bench, McHenry has won 82 percent of his games going 159-33 overall with four straight MIAA Championships and two straight MIAA Tournaments. During the 2005-06 season, Washburn continued its NCAA record 51-game winning streak into the regional finals, where Washburn fell in overtime. For his efforts, he named the MIAA Coach of the Year after leading the team to a perfect 16-0 season.
In 2004-05, McHenry was named MIAA Coach of the Year and Molten/Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year after guiding Washburn to its first-ever NCAA Division II crown in any sport. He also led the Lady Blues to a third straight MIAA regular season title, an MIAA Tournament title and a South Central Regional title with a 35-2 record.
In his seven seasons McHenry has posted a 159-33 (.828) record overall and 83-23 (.783) record in the MIAA. He is 146-11 the last five seasons. He is third among active women's NCAA Division II Coaches in winning percentage.
The Lady Blues posted a 26-5 record and a second straight MIAA regular season crown in 2003-04. The Lady Blues also earned a berth to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the third straight year.
In only his third season in 2002-03, McHenry guided the Lady Blues to a regular season MIAA title, a Sonic/MIAA Tournament championship and a berth to the Division II Elite Eight.
The Lady Blues tied for second most wins in team history at 30-4 and went to the Elite Eight for the third time in team history. For his efforts he was named District VI Coach of the Year.
In his second season McHenry engineered one of the best turnarounds in Division II, guiding Washburn to the South Central Regional and finishing with a 23-7 record.
He guided the Lady Blues to back-to-back 20 win seasons after finishing with a 13-14 record in 2000-01, which was also his first season as a head coach at the collegiate level.
McHenry was named the head coach on May 8, 2000.
He became only the fifth coach in the history of the women’s basketball program at Washburn and the first new head coach since Patty Dick joined the Lady Blues as the head coach in the 1977-78 season.
Prior to his new appointment, McHenry spent the previous 11 seasons as a member of the men’s basketball coaching staff under current coach Bob Chipman. While on the Washburn bench, he was a part of 243 wins. In addition to his basketball duties, McHenry was the men’s golf coach for eight seasons.
McHenry has had a diverse coaching career. He began his career as a graduate assistant to Chipman during the 1984-85 season. He then went on to Perry High School in 1986 where he served as assistant boys coach.
McHenry quickly moved up the coaching ranks in 1988 when he assumed an assistant’s position with the Topeka Sizzlers of the Continental Basketball Association.
McHenry eventually became the Sizzlers’ interim head coach before joining the Washburn staff for the 1989-90 campaign. During his first year on the Washburn staff, McHenry was the department’s academic advisor.
McHenry played for Washburn after stints at Coffeyville Community College and the University of Kansas. He started for the Ichabods during the 1983-84 season.
He graduated from Washburn with a bachelor’s degree in communications and went on to earn a master’s degree in sports administration from Wichita State University in 1987.
McHenry and his wife, Mischa, have three children, Danielle, Samantha and Ronnie.
Dustin Odum
Assistant Coach
 Coaching Section from media guide
Dustin Odum enters his fifth season as an assistant coach for the Lady Blues, after serving one season as the head girls coach Wamego High School in 2001-02. At Washburn, Odum has helped the Lady Blues to four MIAA regular season championships, three MIAA tournament championships and the 2005 NCAA national championship. The Lady Blues have had three All-Americans with Odum on the Washburn bench.
Odum was elevated to the top assistant post in June of 2003 and is in charge of scheduling, conditioning and video operations. He also handles summer camps and leagues and assists with recruiting and on-court coaching for the Lady Blues
Before coaching at Wamego, Odum was a graduate assistant at Emporia State University for two seasons, where helped Emporia State to two MIAA titles and an Elite Eight. He coached two Kodak All-Americans for the Hornets.
He was also an assistant coach at Northern Heights in Allen, Kan., where he helped guide the Wildcats to a third place finish at the 1999 3A state championship at Hutchinson. He coached at Northern Heights for three seasons.
He got his first experience in coaching at Nemaha Valley High School, where he served as head freshman coach for one season in 1995-96.
Odum earned a bachelor’s of science in education at Emporia State in 1999. He is a native of Seneca, Kan., where he graduated from Nemaha Valley High in 1994.
Toni Gross
Assistant Coach
 Coaching Section from media guide
Toni Gross begins her first season as an assistant coach with the Lady Blues. Gross comes to Washburn from Barton County after she helped the Cougars to back to back Regional VI Finals.
Gross began her coaching career at Tyler Junior College where she coached former Lady Blues Juwanna Rivers and current Lady Blue Nikki Holmes. During the 2002-03 season, Tyler finished in the top five at the NJCAA National Tournament. During the 2003-04 season, Gross was an assistant coach at Jayhawk West rival Pratt Community College. During that season, Pratt made it to the Region VI quarterfinals where the Beavers lost by two points to eventual Region VI Champion Seward County.
Prior to her coaching career, Gross had a standout career as a basketball player. After a successful prep career at Parsons where she set and still holds several prep records, Gross played at Labette Community College for two year where she set and still holds numerous Jayhawk records including scoring 57 points in one game against Neosho.
After receiving All-American honors at Labette, Gross moved on to Louisiana State University where she was a two-year starter and an All-Southeast Conference selection for the Tigers. After her career at LSU ended, Gross played professionally overseas for two seasons in Italy.
Gross is a native of Parsons, Kan.
Lora Westling
Student Assistant Coach
 Coaching Section from media guide
Lora Westling is in her second season as an assistant coach after a stellar four-year career for the Lady Blues.
Westling scored 965 points in her career to place her 20th in Washburn history and broke school records for games played in her career (132) and 3-point field goals made (144). Her record for career games is also an MIAA record. She is also 16th on the Washburn charts in career rebounding with 490 and made 85 career starts for the Lady Blues.
She earned All-MIAA honors the past two seasons and was named to the all-tournament team at the Elite Eight by averaging 14.3 points a game.
Westling is a native of Casper, Wyoming and graduated in May 2005 with a degree in marketing and is pursuing her master’s in business administration.
Westling was also an assistant coach for the Washburn Lady Blues soccer team.
Carla Sintra
Student Assistant Coach
 Coaching Section from media guide
Carla Sintra is in her second season as an assistant coach for the Lady Blues after playing two seasons.
Sintra averaged 13.5 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds a game to earn MIAA Most Valuable Player and WBCA All-American honors as a senior.
She was named the Most Oustanding Player of the NCAA Tournament last season after averaging 14.0 points and 8.3 rebounds a game in the Elite Eight. She had a career-high 29 points at Emporia State.
Sintra came to Washburn after playing two seasons at South Plains College, where she earned all-conference and all-region honors.
She is a native of Goiania, Brazil and is majoring in physical education with an emphasis in exercise physiology.
|
