Nov. 14, 2001
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri State women's basketball head coach Ed Arnzen announced at his annual media day that this season, his 19th as Otahkian head coach, will be his last on the bench. At the conclusion of the 2001-02 season, Arnzen will officially retire.
"I have been coaching for about 36 years and I think that's about enough," Arnzen said. "I will being stepping down at the end of June. It has been a great run. Very few people have the opportunity to be happy everyday they are at work but I have. Basketball has been extremely important to me but there has to be more to life than coaching basketball. I have a list of things I want to do. I want this year to be a season that our players and I will remember forever."
"After 19 years at this school we are all going to miss Ed," Southeast Athletic Director Don Kaverman said. "We are looking forward to an outstanding year from Ed and his team. I have been involved in intercollegiate athletics for 25 years and I have honestly never worked with a finer man. We want him a have a great final season."
"When recruits come to campus it is really important for them to feel comfortable as if they are part of a family and Ed provides that here," Southeast Missouri President Kenneth Dobbins said. "We want to thank Ed for everything he has done over his career at Southeast."
In his 18 prior seasons with Southeast, Arnzen has a record of 324-190 and he coached in his 500th game last season. His most successful season was in 1990-91 when he led the Division II Southeast squad to a 31-4 record and a national runner-up finish. That was the last season of Division II basketball at Southeast, as the Otahkians moved to Division I and the Ohio Valley Conference the next season. That national runner-up squad won 21 of its final 22 games of that season and hosted the Final Four at the Show Me Center. They fell 81-74 to North Dakota State in the title game.
Arnzen won the MIAA conference Coach of the Year award three times and in 1998-99 after the Otahkians completed a 19-9 record and won 13 conference games, Arnzen received the OVC Coach of the Year award.
Prior to joining the Southeast women's staff, Arnzen served as an assistant coach on the Southeast men's basketball squad for three seasons and as coach at Notre Dame High in Cape Girardeau for nine seasons, where he compiled a 175-58 record and placed third at the Missouri State Tournament in 1976.
Arnzen is only the fourth coach in the 26-year history of the Southeast women's basketball program.
He is a 1965 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University.
