Dubuque athletic director Dan Runkle announced the appointment of Mark Noll as head women's coach.
"I am pleased to welcome Mark Noll to our coaching staff," said Runkle. "I feel very confident with Mark as our new women's basketball coach and believe his background and experience will take our program to a new level in the Iowa Conference. We were looking for someone who had college coaching experience, especially at the Division III level and a person who had been associated with a successful program with a recruiting base, I believe that Mark fits our needs very well."
Noll, a native of Colfax, Wis. is a 2000 graduate of UW-Stout, where he has been assistant women's coach the past five seasons and seven seasons overall. He has 17 years of coaching experience at all levels including collegiate, AAU and youth levels. He has been a significant presence in the recent success at UW-Stout women's basketball program in recent years which included three consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball championships, WIAC tournament championships, and two "Sweet 16" finishes in the NCAA Tournament. The women's team at Stout has been among the attendance leaders for the past five seasons among Division III programs.
Noll's background also includes extensive experience as basketball coach, personal instructor and club promoter for the Wisconsin AAU from 1989-2002. He assisted in every facet of running the nationally known Great Lakes Shootout Basketball Series. He coached AAU teams to the national level with numerous Top 8 finishes at the national championships and junior olympics.
He has coached over 100 players who went on to receive college scholarships, two Big Ten Freshman of the Year, a D3hoops.com All-American, the top-3 all-time leading scorers in high school for the state of Wisconsin, two USA Basketball Team members, and three WNBA players.
"I'm very excited to be at the University of Dubuque and be a part of a athletic staff," commented Noll. "I look forward to the challenges, and I'm anxious to bring this program along into a new competitive status with the help of assistant coach Dana Harrold."
"I'm looking forward to the level of basketball played in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and competing against the high quality of coaches in the league. One of the selling points for me was becoming a coach in this strong basketball conference. I would like to thank president Jeffrey Bullock and athletic director Dan Runkle for giving me the opportunity to be the next Spartan coach."
Noll takes over for Todd Huffman who resigned in April after five seasons, three of which the team qualified for the IIAC tournament, to pursue other opportunities.