Coach Joe Legerski politely converses with a referee about a call during the Cowgirls game against UNLV Wednesday night.
Going on his 10th year as the University of Wyoming’s women’s basketball head coach, Joe Legerski continues to push his team to great achievement as they are currently ranked third in the Mountain West conference.
Legerski is a notable UW alumnus, having obtained a bachelor’s degree in education in 1979. After graduating, he coached for various teams before he ended up as the Cowgirl’s head coach.
Legerski started off his career coaching the high school women’s team in Rock Springs. From there, he coached the women’s team at Western Wyoming Community College for one season, bringing the team to second place in the region. He returned to Laramie as an assistant coach at the University in 1987 and stayed until 1991.
Legerski then accepted an offer to coach at the University of Utah. At U of U, he worked as the assistant coach from 1991-98 and then was promoted to head coach, which he held until 2003.
He was named part of the most successful women’s program in the history of both the Western Athletic and Mountain West Conferences according to UW Athletics. At U of U, the Utes compiled a 254-96 record while he was there, including seven league titles.
May 1, 2003, Legerski officially became the sixth head coach in Cowgirl history. Living up to his reputation as an excellent coach, he earned MW Coach of the Year honors in his first year with the program. Since then he has been working on building teams up and striving for sensational season accomplishments.
“Coming to Wyoming was something I was very happy to do with my coaching career,” said Legerski. “Having the opportunity to become the head coach of the Cowgirls team was an honor.”
Not only have his players impressed him on the court, but Legerski finds they are just as skilled in the classroom. He has coached 52 Academic All-MW student-athletes and 37 have been named MW Scholar Athletes, according to UW Athletics.
“Outside of practices and games, I ask my players to make the decisions that will put them in their best light,” said Legerski. “We follow and hold all players to those standards.”
As many of his players have had Honorable Mentions in the MW conference, Legerski himself has notched 172 career victories, just three shy of tying the all-time record of 175 held by Chad Lavin, head coach at Colorado State University. That total does not include the games won so far this season.
“I started coaching because I loved to teach. I used to teach a business class at a junior high once upon a time ago and now instead of teaching that, I get to teach the one thing I really love: basketball.”
There have been many notable titles, performances and victories since Legerski has stepped on the Arena Auditorium court leading the Cowgirl’s team. Coming from last season when the Cowgirls’ overall record was 12-17, he anticipates a chance to bring an honorable title back from the conference in their 2012-13 season.
“If I had to say what makes our team a great one, I would say it’s the love and chemistry we all share for the game and how we share the basketball. And we always make sure we are pulling for each other and encouraging each other every step of the way.”
