By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Ron McHenry, the winningest coach in Washburn University women's basketball history, announced his retirement in a Tuesday afternoon press conference after 22 seasons guiding the Ichabods.
McHenry coached Washburn to a NCAA national championship in 2004-05 and posted a career record of 490-180 (.731) at Washburn after becoming the head coach in the 2000-01 season.
"Washburn's been my life, it really has,'' McHenry said Tuesday. "Over half my life I've been here. All my kids went to school here and graduated from here and my wife graduated from here.
"It's just been a great run. The University's been unbelievable. Our adminiistration here is unbelievable. It's got to be one of the top jobs in the country because they give you every opportunity to win. It's just a bigtime place to coach at and I've been blessed to be able to coach 22 years, plus as an assistant coach and play here so it's just been an awesome place and a place that's always supported me. It's been a huge part of me.''
Ron McHenry, the winningest coach in Washburn women's basketball history, announced his retirement in a Tuesday news conference. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
McHenry has won eight MIAA titles and seven MIAA tournament championships at Washburn. McHenry is a four-time MIAA Coach of the Year and a two-time region coach of the year.
McHenry has coached nine players to 21 All-America awards. He’s coached one NCAA South Central Region player of the year, six MIAA most valuable players, five MIAA defensive players of the year, 41 all-conference selections, nine MIAA Scholar Athletes and 84 MIAA Academic Honor Roll members.
He concluded the 2021-22 campaign ranked 16th all-time in career winning percentage as well as 18th in career wins among active NCAA Division II coaches.
McHenry got emotional while talking about his family, but stressed that Tuesday was a happy occasion.
"It's one of those deals where it can be a sad time, but it really isn't,'' McHenry said. "This is a fun time right now.''
During the 2016-17 season, McHenry earned his 400th career Washburn victory at Northeastern State (Okla.) on Jan. 12 with a 67-48 victory. With that win McHenry became the fastest coach in NCAA Division II women's basketball history to reach the milestone, doing so in just 512 games, while becoming just the 23rd individual to accomplish the feat.
On Dec. 18, 2018 against Embry-Riddle, McHenry captured his 432nd victory to pass Patty Dick as the winningest head coach of the WU women's basketball program.
McHenry was named Molten/Division II Bulletin national coach of the year in 2004-05 after guiding Washburn to its first NCAA Division II national title in any sport.
He led Washburn to a third straight MIAA regular season title, an MIAA tournament title and a South Central Region title with a 35-2 record. The school won its final 19 games en route to the national title.
Washburn turned that winning streak into an NCAA record the following year. The Lady Blues finished the 2005-06 regular season with a perfect 27-0 record and swept through the MIAA postseason tournament and first two rounds of the NCAA South Central Region tournament. They then fell in overtime in the regional final to end the winning streak at 51 games and end the year with a 32-1 record.
McHenry was named the MIAA coach of the year that season after leading the team to a perfect 16-0 conference season.
He coached consensus national player of the year Jennifer Harris as she won the award from three different organizations. She was also the region and MIAA player of the year and she went on to be drafted No. 20 by the Chicago Sky in the 2006 WNBA Draft.
McHenry guided Washburn to a 23-6 record in 2012-13 and a second straight MIAA regular season title with a 16-2 mark in the conference. McHenry was named MIAA coach of the year for his efforts. His team earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA region tournament for the second straight year as he made his 12th straight trip to the event.
In his 12 appearances in the NCAA tournament, McHenry has three Elite Eight appearances with trips in 2002-03, 2004-05 and 2007-08. He has a 20-11 record overall in the NCAA tournament.
McHenry guided the Lady Blues to a regular season MIAA title in 2002-03, just his third season as a head coach. He also won an MIAA postseason tournament championship and a berth to the Division II Elite Eight. McHenry was named District VI coach of the year that season.
In his second season, McHenry engineered one of the best turnarounds in Division II, guiding Washburn to the NCAA South Central Region tournament and finishing with a 23-7 record. The year after that he guided the Lady Blues to back-to-back 20 win seasons after finishing with a 13-14 record in 2000-01, his first season as a head coach.
McHenry was named the women's basketball head coach on May 8, 2000. He became only the fifth coach in program-history at Washburn and the first since Patty Dick took over in the 1977-78 season.
Before taking over as Washburn's women's coach McHenry spent 11 seasons as a member of the men’s basketball coaching staff Bob Chipman. He was a part of 243 wins while also guiding the men’s golf team for eight seasons.
McHenry began as a graduate assistant to Chipman during the 1984-85 season. He then went on to Perry-Lecompton High School in 1986 where he served as assistant boys coach. In 1988 McHenry became an assistant coach with the Topeka Sizzlers of the Continental Basketball Association.
McHenry eventually became the Sizzlers’ interim head coach before joining the Washburn staff for the 1989-90 campaign.
McHenry played for Washburn after stints at Coffeyville Community College and Kansas.
He graduated from Washburn with a bachelor’s degree in communications and went on to earn a master’s degree in sports administration from Wichita State in 1987.
McHenry and his wife, Mischa, have three children, daughters Dani and Sami and son Ronnie.
Ronnie was a member of the Washburn golf team (2012-16) and was named the Ichabods' head coach during the summer of 2021. Dani and Sami both played basketball and volleyball at Washburn. Dani is a Class of 2016 inductee into the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame.
