Men’s basketball head coach Drew Diener became the fastest
coach in program history to reach 100 career wins, as the Wolves captured a
62-45 win over the Indiana University-South Bend Titans on Jan. 26.
The win gave Diener his 100th victory in 131 games.
A three-time Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Coach of the Year award winner, Diener’s teams have twice produced seasons in
which they’ve won 27 or more games and gone undefeated twice in conference
play.
While his teams have won on the conference level, Diener has
also brought national recognition to the program. Last December, men's
basketball team was ranked No. 1 in the National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll for the first time
in team history.
Stritch players have been successful under the guidance of
Diener as he’s coached two CCAC Player of the Year award winners, one CCAC
Freshman of the Year, one NAIA All-American, and 12 CCAC All-Conference
players.
Diener came to Stritch in 2009 after serving as an assistant
coach at the University of Virginia. A
native of Fond du Lac, Wis., Diener is a 2003 graduate of Saint Louis
University. As a basketball player at Saint Louis, he ranks sixth on the
program’s career three-point field goals list.
Basketball has been a way of life for Diener, coming from
one of Wisconsin’s more notable basketball families. His brother, Drake, played
at DePaul University and is now playing professionally in Italy, while his
cousin, Travis, played at Marquette University and is also playing
professionally in Italy.
Diener’s father was a high school coach before his
retirement and was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
His uncle, Tom, is the former head coach at Milwaukee Vincent High School and
current head coach at Milwaukee Hamilton High School.