By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn athletic director Loren Ferré has announced the hiring of former Lady Blues standout Lora Westling as the sixth head coach of the Washburn women's basketball program.
A formal press conference to officially announce Westling as the head coach will be held in Washburn's McPherson Booster Room at 10 a.m. Friday.
Lora Westling
"I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to lead Washburn women's basketball into the future," Westling said. "This program was so instrumental in shaping me as a young woman and I do not take that responsibility lightly.
"Thank you to Dr. Farley, Loren Ferré, and the rest of the search committee for their work during this process and especially for their belief in me. I am ready to get to work immediately with this tremendous group of student-athletes, and look forward to being a part of the Topeka community again."
Westling was a standout member of Washburn's women's basketball team from 2001-05 and helped the Lady Blues to the school's first NCAA Division II national championship in 2005.
Her name is found throughout Washburn's record book and she is currently sixth in games played (132), sixth in career 3-pointers made (144), 10th in assists (299) and 14th in 3-point field goal percentage (.363). She also played one season of soccer for the Lady Blues.
Westling, a native of Casper, Wyoming, earned her bachelor's degree in business in 2005 and her MBA in 2007 from Washburn University.
"We are very excited to welcome Lora back to Washburn as the sixth head coach for the women's basketball program," Ferré said. "She was an accomplished student-athlete at Washburn and returns after experiencing success with each of the prior teams she coached. We are excited for the future."
Westling returns to her alma mater after six seasons at Western Colorado, where she compiled a record of 77-78 and led the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament selections – the first two in program history. She guided the team to three-consecutive RMAC Tournaments, after having not made the postseason for seven seasons. Her overall victories is second on the Western all-time list and her 63 RMAC wins is tied for second in program history.
In 2019-20, the Mountaineers went 20-7 overall, which was the third time the program reached the 20-win mark and the first time since 1986-87. Western went 18-4 in RMAC play to finish in second place - the most conference wins in program history. The team earned its first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament, only for it to be canceled the day before it started because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to Western Colorado, Westling spent three seasons as the head coach of Illinois College.
In her first season as head coach at Illinois College, Westling guided the team to a five-win improvement in both its overall and MWC records. Illinois College followed that in 2014-15 with its first trip to the MWC Tournament in five seasons.
Before accepting the head job at Illinois College, Westling was the top assistant at Truman State from 2010-13. She was part of a staff that built a team that finished the 2012-13 season 20-8 and spent 11 weeks in the national rankings. At Truman State, Westling was the recruiting coordinator and guards/defensive coach.
Westling's first full-time position came at University of Missouri-St. Louis where she was the top assistant from 2007-10. At UMSL, she was the recruiting coordinator and position specialist for guards.
Westling got her start in coaching at Washburn, where she served as a graduate assistant for the women's basketball and women's soccer teams.
Her first official day in her new role at Washburn will be April 26.
