Media Unanimously Selects Weisner To Pac-12 All-Freshman Team
• 2012 Pac-12 Media Coach of the Year
• Eight All-Pac-12 Selections
• 2009 NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year
• NCAA DIII West Region Coach of the Year (2008-10)
• Northwest Conf. Coach of the Year (2000-01, 05, 07-10)
• Four NAIA All-Americans
• Four NCAA All-Americans
• 33 All-Northwest Conference Selections
• 2009 NCAA Division III Championship
• Three Elite 8 Appearances
• Six Sweet 16 Appearances
• Seven Northwest Conference Championships
• Seven Top 25 national rankings (2000-01, 05, 07-10)
• 14 straight winning seasons (1996-2010)
• Inducted into the George Fox Sports Hall of Fame in 2011
• Seven All-Pac-12 Selections
It was a homecoming of sorts for Scott Rueck, who was named the fifth head coach in the history of the Oregon State women's basketball program on June 30, 2010. He begins his fourth season at the helm in 2013-14.
Oregon State's 2012-13 campaign was highlighted by one of the best defensive groups in school history and a young corps of five freshmen that produced more than any other collection of first-year players in the conference.
The Beavers finished the season 16th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a school-record low 34.6 percent. OSU also was 11th in the country in blocks per game (5.5) and was the only team in the nation that boasted seven different players with at least 10 rejections. Since 2006-07, all but one of Rueck's squads has finished in the top 25 in the nation in field goal percentage defense.
Oregon State's promising freshman class scored more than 46 percent of the team's points, the highest ratio in the Pac-12. The quartet was led by Jamie Weisner, who became just the fifth freshman in OSU history, and first in 20 years, to amass totals of 350 points and 150 rebounds in a season. Weisner, who topped the team in scoring and was second in rebounds, was selected a member of the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team by both the conference's coaches and its media and was also named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention by the league's coaches after the season.
With another young squad in 2011-12 picked to finish last in the Pac-12, Rueck and the Beavers defied the odds, finishing fifth in the conference with a 9-9 mark. In ending the year seven spots above where they were picked at the beginning of the season, Oregon State made the largest jump between expected finish and actual result in conference history. With a 20-13 overall record, the 11-game improvement in the win column from Rueck's first year at the helm was the greatest single-year leap in that category at Oregon State since1990-91.
Those achievements earned Rueck a pick as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, as voted on by the conference media. Additionally, the team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the WNIT, featuring wins over UC Davis and Saint Mary's in Gill Coliseum. Senior Earlysia Marchbanks was named All-Pac-12, while freshman Ali Gibson earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and Pac-12 All-Freshman honors. Junior Patricia Bright rounded out the conference award-receiving group with a selection to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.
In his inaugural year as head coach of the Beavers, Rueck led an inexperienced squad, with only one player possessing NCAA Division I level experience, to a 9-21 record. With a lot of question marks prior to game one, the Beavers captured their first win in the season opener over Long Beach State en route to a 7-4 non-conference finish.
Oregon State lost some close games to open Pac-10 play before earning its first conference win over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena. Shortly after, the Beavers claimed their second Pac-10 victory at home in legendary Gill Coliseum in what is believed to be the biggest come-from-behind victory in program history, overcoming a 20-point deficit to defeat Oregon, 61-59, in the Civil War. Rueck coached two All-Pac-10 honorees in senior El Sara Greer and redshirt sophomore Sage Indendi, an All-Pac-10 Defensive Team selection in Greer and a Pac-10 All-Freshman Team member in Alyssa Martin.
That same year, Rueck was also inducted into the George Fox Sports Hall of Fame.
Rueck came to Oregon State after spending 14 seasons as the head women's basketball coach at George Fox, compiling a career 288-88 (.766) record. Under his watch, the Bruins recorded winning seasons each year and claimed the Division III National Championship in 2009. Rueck led his squads to five Sweet 16 appearances, three Elite Eight contests, six NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and seven Northwest Conference Championships.
During his time at George Fox, Rueck coached four NAIA All-Americans, four NCAA All-Americans and 33 All-Northwest Conference honorees. Individually, he was named the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year in 2009, was a three-time NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year (2008, 2009, 2010) and a seven-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010).
George Fox finished 2009-10 with a 28-3 overall record and a perfect 16-0 Northwest Conference mark en route to an NCAA Division III Sectional Final appearance. The undefeated conference performance was the second straight for the Bruins.
Prior to 2008-09, the Bruins had lost all five starters from the previous year's Sweet 16 run and were picked to finish fifth in the league. But with four returning letterwinners and 10 freshmen, Rueck led the team to a school-record 32-0 season, winning the national championship and finishing the season with the top spot in both the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and D3hoops.com rankings.
With a perfect 16-0 mark that year, the Bruins won the Northwest Conference by five games, a league record.
In just his fourth season at the helm during the 1999-00 campaign, Rueck led the Bruins to their first NCAA Division III Tournament, finishing 23-5 overall and advancing to the Sweet 16 with a No. 19 national ranking. The next season built on the previous year's success, as the team finishing 15-1 in conference play to capture its first league title with a 23-3 overall record. The Bruins were ranked as the top team in the country for two weeks straight, finishing the season at No. 11.
George Fox made its next tournament appearance during the 2004-05 campaign, advancing to the Elite Eight, further than any team in school history at the time. The Bruins finished the season with a 22-6 overall record and were ranked as high as 10th in the polls at the end of the season.
In 2007-08, Rueck's defense gained national attention and led the country after allowing just 45.4 points per game. That squad finished 25-5 overall, reaching the round of 16 for the third time and finished as high as 15th in the polls.
Rueck got his start coaching while an undergrad at Oregon State. He served as assistant coach at Santiam Christian High School for the boy's basketball team from 1989-93. He then became a women's basketball assistant at George Fox under former head coach Sherri Murrell, helping the Bruins to a 37-23 overall record and two NAIA postseason appearances. Additionally, he coached the women's tennis team in 1995-96.
Basketball runs in the Rueck family. His sister, Heidi, was an NAIA All-American point guard at George Fox, setting the school records in career, single season and single-game assists and was eventually voted into the school's Sport Hall of Fame in 2005. His father, Marv, was a part of the coaching staffs at Hillsboro and Glencoe High Schools and was the inaugural head coach at Glencoe when it opened in 1980.
Rueck earned a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science from Oregon State in 1991, while adding a master's in physical education in 1992. He is married to the former Kerry Aillaud, and the couple has three children, Cole, Kate and Macey. Kerry played basketball for George Fox from 1993-95, while serving as assistant coach for the program from 1998-06.
