RIVERSIDE, CA - California Baptist University has
selected Jarrod Olson as the new head coach of the Lancer's
women’s basketball team.
Olson comes to CBU after six seasons as the head coach at NCAA
Division II Florida Southern. He will be the 10th coach
in the Lancer program’s 37-year history.
“Coach Olson has proven to be a successful coach at many
levels the past 15 years,” Director of Athletics Dr. Micah
Parker said. “He is a fit for the university and has had
tremendous success as a player, assistant, and head coach. We have
a very talented team returning next year, and he is excited to
start working with them. I know he’ll continue to build our
program into a contender both regionally and nationally.”
Olson inherits a Lancer team that returns the majority of its
players, including All-Pacific West Conference honorees Myriah
Hicks and Simone Holmes, from a team that finished 22-7 overall and
was second place in the PacWest at 14-4 in its first season in the
conference.
With an extensive history of success at Florida Southern, Olsen
led the Moccasins to back-to-back Sunshine State Conference (SSC)
regular-season titles and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances,
reaching the second round both times. In 2011, he also guided the
Moccasins to their first SSC tournament title and NCAA tournament
appearance since 2003.
In six seasons at Florida Southern, Olson, the two-time SSC
Coach of the Year, posted a 113-61 (.650) record. Throughout
Olson’s first five seasons, the program improved its win
total each year, culminating in back-to-back 24-plus win seasons in
2011 and 2012.
Prior to his time at FSC, Olson served as an assistant coach at
NCAA Division I Creighton for four seasons. He helped guide
the team to a 75-49 record that included a pair of 24-win seasons.
In 2004, the Bluejays won the Women's National Invitation
Tournament (NIT) and during Olson's tenure the team finished first
or second in the Missouri Valley Conference three times.
"I want to thank President Ellis, Kent Dacus and Dr. Parker for
giving me the opportunity to lead the women's basketball
program,” Olson said. “I am excited to work at a
university that is so deeply committed to developing their students
not only academically and socially, but spiritually as well. I will
work very hard to make the CBU community proud of its women's
basketball program."
In the summer of 2005, he coached the Otago Breakers of the
Women's National Basketball League in Dunedin, New Zealand, earning
WNBL Coach of the Year honors. Prior to his time at Creighton,
Olson built the program at College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Neb.,
helping the program to a 13-game improvement after he was hired in
2000.
Olson’s coaching career began at Emporia State where he
was a graduate assistant in 1998. Emporia State was 33-1 and the
NCAA Division II runner-up. Before taking the job at College of
Saint Mary, Olson was an assistant men's basketball coach for one
year at Millard South High School in Omaha and an assistant men's
basketball coach at Bellevue University for one season.
As a player, Olson was an NAIA All-American at Doane College in
Crete, Neb., still ranking fifth on the school's all-time scoring
list with 2,018 career points. He also played briefly with the
Queens Graduates basketball club in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and
with the Sonics basketball club in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Olson married his wife, Amy, in 2003. She is a former college
basketball player and served as an assistant coach with her husband
for the Otago Breakers. The Olsons have a one-year-old son,
Eamon.