Bobbi Endress has been selected to replace James Black as women's basketball coach at Augustana, it was announced today. Endress, 29, becomes the sixth coach in Augustana history. She replaces Black, whose contract was not renewed after posting a 55-66 record in five years from 2002-06.

"I am very honored to have this opportunity to lead the Augustana College women's basketball program," said Endress who compiled a record of 36-20 in two seasons at Edgewood. "Augustana has a great reputation both academically and athletically and certainly the challenge of coaching in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin was appealing to me."

She takes over a team that went 5-20 last season and brings a 14-game losing streak into next season.

Endress, a native of Morrison, Ill., took over the reins of the Edgewood program prior to the 2004-05 school year. In her first year she guided the Eagles to a 21-8 overall record and a championship in the Lake Michigan Conference with a 12-2 mark. There were a number of firsts at Edgewood that year as the team won the first conference championship, first NCAA tournament berth and compiled the best record in school history.

She was voted the LMC Coach of the Year in 2004-05 and was also the league's Rookie of the Year. She has coached three all-conference players, one CoSIDA Academic All-American and seven academic all-conference performers.

Her second team in the 2005-06 season was 15-12 overall and 11-5 in conference play before being eliminated in the LMC tournament semifinals.

"We are very happy to be able to hire someone like Bobbi, who has experience as a head coach at the NCAA Division III level," said Chuck Gordon, Augustana's director of athletics. "We are looking forward to getting back into the hunt in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin. She is anxious to get going."

Besides being the head coach in women's basketball, Endress also served as the head coach in women's golf at Edgewood, leading her team to LMC conference titles in both 2004 and 2005. Twice she has been the conference Coach of the Year in golf and she has had one NCAA Division III national qualifier and eight all-conference performers.

Before taking the job at Edgewood, Endress worked at Dubuque, her alma mater, as an assistant coach in women's basketball, golf and softball. She was also an assistant women's basketball coach at Clarke during the 2000-01 season.

A graduate of Dubuque in 2000 with a degree in physical education, Endress received her masters in physical education from Loras in 2003.

She enjoyed a tremendous playing career for the Spartans where she was team captain for three seasons. When she graduated she was second on the school's all-time list in games played and fourth in assists and was named one of the "all-time greatest players" in 2003.

"I have always known that I wanted to be a coach," said Endress. "I have played and worked for lots of different coaches and I think that went a long way towards making me develop my own philosophy. I believe in playing strong defense and that is what we will stress here at Augustana."