UW-La Crosse named Stuart Engen the head men's basketball coach at a joint news conference in the Cleary and Alumni Friends Center on campus May 16.

Engen, 37, has coached at Upper Iowa since 1992 and has guided the Peacocks to three Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and seven top five finishes. He has compiled a 135-70 (.659) record at UIU and has been selected the IIAC's Coach of the Year three times.

"To be involved with an institution with such distinguished faculty and staff members, and with accomplished coaches throughout, it is an honor and privilege to be in this position, and I look forward to the challenge," Engen said at the media conference. "I can honestly tell you, there isn't one community in the country that we would rather live in than La Crosse. We love this area and are really excited to move here."

Engen's teams have received bids into the NCAA III Tournament twice and have led the conference in scoring defense several times. In 1996, the Peacocks led Division III in scoring defense.

"He is a proven winner with the ability to turn programs around," Baker said. "He is familiar with Wisconsin and Minnesota for recruiting purposes. Stuart is also familiar with the city, area and league because he was in the community for two years and has competed against teams in the WIAC."

Other coaching experiences include a two-year stint as head coach at Western Wisconsin Technical College in La Crosse and as an assistant coach at Augsburg for two seasons.

The other two candidates who interviewed for the men's position were James Wilhelmi, the assistant men's basketball coach at Hampton, and Brad Horstmann, the head men's coach at Southwestern (Kan.).