Monday, June 9, 2014

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Former Western Oregon University women's basketball head coach Greg Bruce as been hired as an assistant coach for the University Alaska women’s basketball program.
 
Bruce brings in three decades of collegiate coaching experience, which includes being the winningest coach in Portland State University history, garnering six conference and three district coach of the year accolades and compiling 349 (349-265) victories in 22 seasons as a head coach.
 
“Greg Bruce is an exciting addition to our program,” UAF coach Cody Bench said. “He is a true professional. His extensive background and knowledge of the conference are exceptional. He has coached at several levels and most recently in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.”
 
“I am extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity to join Coach Bench's staff at the University of Alaska Fairbanks,” Bruce said.  I believe in Cody's work ethic and vision for where she wants to take Alaska women's basketball. I look forward to lending my support to the program she has built over her four years.”

Bruce was the head coach at Western Oregon for seven years from 2006-13. He assumed control of a program which had gone winless the previous season and lost 47 of 48 games and he collected 56 victories during his time as the Wolves’ head coach.

He also produced WOU’s first back-to-back, double-digit winning seasons in a decade during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. Following the 2012-13 regular season, Bruce retired from coaching.
 
Prior to Western Oregon, Bruce had stints at Fort Lewis (15-13; 2004-05), UC Davis (assistant; 2001-04), Cal State Bakersfield (21-7; 2000-01) and Northern Colorado (58-28; 1997-2000).
 
During that span, he advanced two teams to the NCAA West Regional Championships in CSU Bakersfield (2001) and UNC (2000) and collected a trio of 20-win seasons (1997-98, 1999-00, 2000-01).
 
His head coaching career began in 1986-87, where he would spend 10 seasons at the helm of the Portland State women’s basketball program. In his time there, he guided the Vikings to a 199-89 record, five NCAA Tournament appearances and three region titles, which was highlighted by a national runner-up finish in 1995.
 
In his first five seasons at PSU (1986-91), which was an NCAA Division I independent team at the time, he led it to three straight winning seasons, with the first of three being the program’s first winning season in 12 years.
 
Bruce’s final five years (1991-96) had his Viking team compete in Division II in the PacWest Conference and he led the squad to the PacWest title and the NCAA postseason each of those five years.

He coached them to a program-record 31-3 mark in the 1991-92 season as they won the West Region and advanced to the national semifinals, finishing third.
 
His season-best postseason finish came during the 1994-95 season, when he led the Vikings to a 26-6 finish, a region crown and spot in the 1995 national championship game. In his final season at PSU, he earned his third trip to the Elite Eight with the region title.
 
“He knows our regional opponents as well as the recruiting network that will help us in so many ways,” Bench said. “I believe Greg is a great competitor and will do what he can to help us be a contender in the conference.”
 
Alaska returns all five starters and 10 letter winners from last season’s team which finished 9-17 overall with a 3-15 mark in the GNAC, which was tied for eighth in the league standings.