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Scott Rueck, the 2008-09 NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year for leading George Fox University to an unexpected national championship, has established the Bruin women's basketball program as one of the finest in the nation, with a 13-year record of 260-85 (.754), eight post-season playoff appearances (six in the NCAA), and regular recognition in national polls.
The 2008-09 season could only be described as Rueck's finest. Coming off a 25-5 season in which the Bruins had set a new school record for wins and reached the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament, the '08-09 team had lost seven seniors, including all five starters, and had only four returning letterwinners and 10 freshmen on the roster. Picked to finish fifth in the Northwest Conference, the Bruins instead stunned the basketball world with a 32-0 record, won the national championship with a 60-53 win over Washington University-St. Louis, perhaps the most storied program in D-III women's hoops, finished with No. 1 rankings in both the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and D3hoops.com polls, and rewrote the George Fox record books. It was the Bruins' 16th consecutive winning season, 13 under Rueck.
Rueck was named National Coach of the Year and West Region Coach of the Year by both the WBCA and D3hoops.com. He also received his sixth Northwest Conference Coach of the Year award as the Bruins went 16-0 in conference play, only the second perfect season in league history, and won the NWC by five games, the largest margin ever for a champion.
Counting this past season, the Bruins have made six NCAA Division III Tournament appearances during Rueck's tenure (1999-2000, 2000-01, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09), and he has been named NWC Coach of the Year each time. The Bruins' first NCAA Tournament was in 1999-2000 when they went 23-5, won an NWC co-championship (the team's first), two NCAA playoff games to reach the "Sweet 16", and earned a #19 national ranking. In 2000-01, the Bruins went 15-1 in the NWC to win their first outright league title and 23-3 overall, establishing a record winning percentage (.885) which was broken with this past season's perfect record. With a 20-1 record at one point, the Bruins were voted the #1 team in the nation (replacing Washington-St. Louis, which had held the position for over two years running!), a spot they held for two weeks. The season ended with a second-round setback in the NCAA Tournament, and the Bruins were voted #11 in the final D3hoops.com poll.
The 2004-05 Bruins went further in the National Tournament than any other team until this season. After winning the NWC crown with a 14-2 league mark, the Bruins defeated Chapman and St. Benedict to reach the NCAA "Elite Eight". The season ended with a loss to eventual national runner-up Randolph-Macon on the Yellow Jackets' home court. GFU finished with a 22-6 overall mark and was ranked 10th in the final WBCA poll and 12th by D3hoops.com.
In 2006-07, the Bruins went 19-7, tied for the conference crown at 13-3, defeated co-champion Puget Sound in the NWC Tournament title game, and went 1-1 in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. George Fox was ranked #25 in both the WBCA and D3hoops.com final national polls.
The 2007-08 Bruins reeled off 12 straight wins at one point, setting a school record that was demolished this past year. George Fox tied Puget Sound for the conference crown with a 14-2 league record, their fifth NWC title. After falling to UPS in the NWC Tournament championship game, the Bruins received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, defeated Chapman in the first round, then avenged their NWC Ttournament loss by eliminating UPS in the second round on the Loggers' own floor. In the "Sweet 16" for the third time, the Bruins led No. 1-ranked Hope College for 35 minutes before dropping a 47-40 decision. George Fox was the national leader in defense, allowing only 45.4 points per game, and was ranked 15th in the final WBCA poll and 16th by D3hoops.com.
As a member of the WBCA, Rueck served as the West Region rater for the coaches' poll for two seasons. He has run the Bruin Basketball Academy for 10 years, and has been site director for the NRC Camps held each summer at George Fox for five years. In addition to his coaching duties, he teaches courses in the university's department of health and human performance.
Rueck, 40, has 20 years of coaching experience. While still a student at Oregon State University, he began his coaching career as an assistant boys' basketball coach at Santiam Christian High School in Corvallis, working there from 1989-93. From 1993-95, he served as a women's basketball assistant under George Fox head coach Sherri Murrell, during which the Bruins went 37-23 and made two NAIA post-season appearances. In 1995-96, he coached the Bruin women's tennis team.
When Murrell left after the 1995-96 season, Rueck was named interim head coach for a year, then was made permanent head coach after a national search that yielded four finalists. During his tenure, his players have earned four NAIA All-America, four NCAA All-America, and 29 All-Northwest Conference awards.
A graduate of Glencoe High School in Hillsboro, Ore., Rueck comes from a basketball family. His sister, 1995 George Fox graduate Heidi Rueck, set the school's career, season, and single-game assist records as an NAIA All-American point guard and was voted into the GFU Sport Hall of Fame in 2005. His father, Marv Rueck, was a long-time member of the basketball coaching staffs at Hillsboro Union and Glencoe High Schools, including a season as head coach when Glencoe opened in 1980.
Rueck earned his bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science in 1991 and a master of arts degree in physical education teaching in 1992, both from Oregon State. He and his wife, the former Kerry Aillaud, who played basketball for George Fox from 1993-95 and served as the Bruins' assistant coach from 1998-2006, reside in Newberg. The Ruecks have one son, Cole Michael, age 6, and one daughter, Kate Makena, age 3.
Scott Rueck's Coaching Record (1996-2009)
Year School Overall Pct. Conf. Pct. Team Honors
1996-97 George Fox 15-10 .600 11-5 .688
1997-98 George Fox 16-9 .640 13-5 .722
1998-99 George Fox 18-6 .750 14-4 .778
1999-00 George Fox 23-5 .821 14-2 .825 (1st T) #19 ranking; NCAA "Sweet 16" (2-1)
2000-01 George Fox 23-3 .885 15-1 .885 (1st) #11 ranking; NCAA (0-1)
2001-02 George Fox 20-6 .769 11-5 .688 (3rd)
2002-03 George Fox 15-10 .600 10-6 .625 (4th)
2003-04 George Fox 13-12 .520 7-9 .438 (5th)
2004-05 George Fox 22-6 .786 14-2 .825 (1st) #10 (WBCA), #12 (D3hoops); NCAA "Elite 8" (2-1)
2005-06 George Fox 19-6 .760 10-6 .625 (3rd)
2006-07 George Fox 19-7 .731 13-3 .813 (1st T) #25 (WBCA, D3hoops); NCAA (1-1)
2007-08 George Fox 25-5 .833 14-2 .875 (1st T) #15 (D3hoops), #16 (WBCA); NCAA "Sweet 16" (2-1)
2008-09 George Fox 32-0 1.000 16-0 1.000 (1st) #1 (WBCA, D3hoops); NCAA National Champions (5-0)
GFU Totals (13 yrs) 260-85 .754 162-50 .764
Honors
1999-00 - Northwest Conference Coach of the Year
2000-01 - Northwest Conference Co-Coach of the Year
2004-05 - Northwest Conference Coach of the Year
2006-07 - Northwest Conference Coach of the Year
2007-08 - Northwest Conference Coach of the Year; NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year (D3hoops)
2008-09 - Northwest Conference Coach of the Year; NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year (WBCA, D3hoops); NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year (WBCA, D3hoops)
Rueck vs. All Opponents (1996-2009)
Team Overall Home Road Neutral
Austin College 1-0 - - 1-0
Azusa Pacific University 0-1 - 0-1 -
Biola University 1-0 - 1-0 -
Bridgewater College VA 2-0 - - 2-0
California Lutheran University 2-0 1-0 - 1-0
California State University-East Bay (Hayward) 1-0 1-0 - -
California State University-Monterey Bay 1-0 - 1-0 -
Carleton College 1-1 1-0 - 0-1
Cascade College 6-0 4-0 2-0 -
Central Washington University 0-1 - - 0-1
Chapman University 4-0 3-0 - 1-0
Concordia University-Portland 8-0 4-0 4-0 -
Corban College (Western Baptist) 9-4 4-2 2-2 3-0
Dallas, University of 1-0 - 1-0 -
Denison University 1-0 - - 1-0
DePauw University 1-0 - - 1-0
Dordt College 1-0 - - 1-0
Eastern Oregon University 1-0 - - 1-0
Evergreen State College 3-0 1-0 1-0 1-0
Gustavus Adolphus College 1-0 1-0 - -
Hamline University 1-0 1-0 - -
Holy Names University 0-1 - 0-1 -
Hope College 1-1 - - 1-1
Hope International University 1-0 - 1-0 -
Idaho, College of (Albertson) 1-0 - 1-0 -
Kalamazoo College 2-0 - - 2-0
La Verne, University of 1-0 - - 1-0
Lewis & Clark College 26-1 14-0 12-1 -
Lewis-Clark State College 0-1 - 0-1 -
Linfield College 21-6 12-2 9-4 -
Marian College WI 1-0 - - 1-0
Menlo College 1-0 1-0 - -
Montana State University-Northern 0-1 - - 0-1
Montana Tech 1-0 1-0 - -
Multnomah Bible College 1-0 1-0 - -
Neumann College 1-0 - - 1-0
New Jersey, College of 1-1 - - 1-1
Northwest University (Wash.) 4-1 2-1 1-0 1-0
Northwest Nazarene University 0-1 0-1 - -
Northwestern College (Iowa) 0-1 - 0-1 -
Oglethorpe University 1-0 - - 1-0
Oregon Institute of Technology 2-0 1-0 1-0 -
Pacific University (Ore.) 25-1 13-0 12-1 -
Pacific Lutheran University 17-11 10-4 7-7 -
Point Loma Nazarene University 0-1 - 0-1 -
Puget Sound, University of 18-14 12-4 6-10 -
Randolph-Macon University 0-1 - 0-1 -
Rio Grande, University of 0-1 - - 0-1
Rowan University 1-0 - - 1-0
St. Benedict, College of 1-0 - - 1-0
St. Martin's College 1-1 1-0 0-1 -
St. Mary's College (Ind.) 2-0 - - 2-0
St. Mary's College (Md.) 1-0 - - 1-0
St. Scholastica, College of 0-1 - - 0-1
St. Thomas, University of (Minn.) 1-2 0-1 - 1-1
Savannah College of Art & Design 1-0 - - 1-0
Seattle University 4-3 3-1 1-2 -
Seattle Pacific University 0-1 - 0-1 -
Simpson University (Calif.) 1-0 1-0 - -
Southern Oregon University 2-0 - 1-0 1-0
Vanguard University (Southern California C) 1-0 - 1-0 -
Virginia Wesleyan University 1-0 - - 1-0
Warner Pacific College 6-0 3-0 3-0 -
Washington University-St. Louis 1-0 - - 1-0
Western Oregon University 2-2 1-1 1-1 -
Whitman College 21-6 11-3 10-3 -
Whitworth University 15-12 10-3 5-9 -
Willamette University 23-3 13-0 10-3 -
Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of 0-2 - - 0-2
Worcester State College 1-0 1-0 - -
GFU Totals (13 yrs) 260-85 132-23 95-51 33-11
(.754) (.852) (.651) (.750)
Megan Dickerson, a standout for the Montana State University-Billings women's basketball team in the 1990's, enters her fourth season as an assistant coach with the George Fox Bruins in 2009-10.
A native of Redmond, Ore., Dickerson played for MSUB for four seasons (1994-98), earning All-Pacific West Conference honors in each of her final three years. She was the conference Player of the Year as a senior and was named a Kodak All-American. The Yellowjackets won the conference championship twice during her career, and made it to the NCAA Division II National Tournament in her final three seasons, reaching the "Sweet 16" during her senior campaign.
Dickerson ranks third all-time at MSUB in career points (1,502) and field goals (571), fourth in steals (179), fifth in assists (352), ninth in free throws (265) and scoring average (13.65 ppg), and 11th in three-point field goals (95). She was elected to the Yellowjackets' Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
Dickerson served as a graduate assistant at MSU-Billings during the 1998-99 academic year while completing her degree in elementary education, with a minor in health and physical education. She then spent two years coaching junior varsity and assisting the varsity at Billings Central High School. In May of 2000 Dickerson participated in training camp with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.
In the spring of 2001, she moved to Jackson, Wyo., with her high school sweetheart and husband of 11 years, Todd, where both worked in sports ministry for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The Dickersons moved to Tualatin, Ore., in 2002, and to Newberg in the spring of 2007. She still works part-time with the FCA and full-time with their daughter Bailey, age 8, and son Caleb, age 4 1/2.
The Dickersons attend Lake Bible Church in Lake Oswego,
Ore. She hiking and photography in her spare time.
