Johnson State has announced the hiring of Greg Eckman as its next head women’s basketball coach effective immediately. Eckman will replace former coach Dale Tatro announced who announced his resignation in early March.

The Johnson State women’s basketball team experienced a 4-21 season in 2010-11 and fell short of qualifying for the NAC tournament.

Eckman has served as assistant coach for the Johnson men’s basketball team under coach Michael Osborne for the last five seasons and served double-duty during the 2010-11 season as he worked as the assistant to Tatro for the women’s basketball team this season.

Eckman was a standout high school player at Eisenhower High School in Macomb, Mich., earning a full scholarship to NCAA Division II Michigan Tech in Houghton, Mich. During his career at Michigan Tech, Eckman helped the Huskies to a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division Championship as a sophomore and a pair of Division II NCAA Tournament appearances and in both instances advancing to the Great Lakes Region Semifinal. He ranks seventh all-time at Michigan Tech in games played with 117 while scoring 420 career points and grabbing 358 career rebounds. Eckman was named the team’s Most Improved Player as a sophomore and earned Harold Meese Sportsmanship Award as a senior.

“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to serve as Johnson State’s head women’s basketball coach,” stated Eckman. “I look forward to working with the returning student-athletes as well as to get out and recruit other fine student-athlete’s to join our program and institution. I am thankful that president Barbara Murphy, dean of students Dave Bergh, and the athletics staff feel as though I can be the person to lead this program and be very competitive in the North Atlantic Conference and northeast region. I would also like to thank Coach Tatro and Coach Osborne for the opportunity to work with them for all they have done for me to this point.”

The Badgers anticipate the return of their top two scorers in current sophomore Jennifer Ferrari (14.7 ppg) and junior Andrea Deuell (13.4 ppg) in 2011-12.