Arnzen to retire

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball media day Wednesday afternoon at the Show Me Center featured some added spice with something of a surprise announcement by Ed Arnzen.

The Otahkians' highly successful veteran head coach said this will be his final season behind the bench as he is planning to retire, effective in June. Arnzen is entering his 19th season in charge of the Otahkians and he has been coaching for more than three decades overall.

"I have coached basketball for 36 years and that's enough," said Arnzen. "It's been a great run. Very few people have the opportunity that I've had. It's always been fun to come to work.

"Basketball has been important to me and I'm sure I'll miss it. How can you not miss something you've been involved in for so long? But it hasn't been the only thing in my life. There has to be more to life than just coaching basketball. I've always liked a lot of other things. I have a fishing boat that didn't get in the water last year."

Added Arnzen with a laugh, "I'm not ready to be a Wal-Mart greeter yet. But there are a lot of things my wife JoAnn and I want to do."

Among them is to spend more time with the two of their six grandchildren that live in Arizona. The other four reside in the area.

"We get to see them about twice a year," Arnzen said. "Now we can see them more than that."

Arnzen, who will turn 59 in February, said he had originally planned to announce his impending retirement following the early signing period that began Wednesday. But when word started to leak out, he decided to make the announcement at media day after informing his players before Tuesday's practice.

"I was going to wait until later, but there were so many rumors. It's hard to keep things quiet," he said. "There had to be a date and I wanted to announce it before the players found out from somebody else."

Said senior center Pam Iversen, the only Otahkian who has spent the past four seasons playing for Arnzen, "It surprised me. We'll want to do good for ourselves this year and also for him."

Local roots

A native of Leopold, Mo., and a Southeast graduate, Arnzen spent his first 15 seasons on the high school level as an assistant and head boys basketball coach -- including nine as head coach at Notre Dame, where he compiled a 175-58 record and led the Bulldogs to a third-place state finish in 1977 -- before getting his first college coaching job at his alma mater in 1979.

Arnzen began his tenure at Southeast as an assistant with the men's team. He spent four seasons with that program before he received a call that would drastically alter the shape and focus of his career.

"Nineteen years ago Les Cochran, who was the provost here at the time, called me into his office and offered me the women's head coaching job," said the good-natured Arnzen with a smile. "I had never coached girls or women's basketball before and I knew it would be a lot different. But I took it and it's been great."

In 18 seasons, Arnzen's Otahkian squads have compiled a 324-190 record, including a 196-47 mark in eight seasons on the Division II level.

A shot at a title

Among Arnzen's numerous coaching accomplishments was leading the 1990-91 Otahkians to the Division II national championship game in the program's final season before moving up to Division I. That title contest was played at the Show Me Center as a sellout crowd of 7,064 watched Southeast lose to North Dakota State.

"That has to be one of the best memories, but the times I spent at Notre Dame are also big in my mind," he said. "To see kids grow up and become worthwhile citizens might be the most satisfying thing."

The Otahkians have understandably not fared nearly as well in Division I as they did in Division II, although Arnzen has continued to field some strong squads, topped by a best-ever Division I record of 19-9 in 1998-99. Last year the Otahkians went 14-13 overall and a fourth-place 9-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference. With all five starters returning, hopes are high for the coming season.

"I would love to go out with a big season," Arnzen said. "But I told the players, they need to play for themselves and make it a good season they can remember for their own reasons."

Arnzen, asked what kind of role his wife has played in his career, said with a laugh, "To be a coach's wife is not a good job. We've got two daughters and JoAnn basically raised them when I was gone so much. She's been a big part of it and I couldn't have done all this without her.

"We'll still go to games, but at our own pace now."