Former ND standout gets role at Mo. Southern

After seven years of serving as head coach of the Rend Lake College women's basketball team, Ronnie Ressel will be re-uniting with his former college coach at Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Mo.

Ressel, an all-state point guard for Notre Dame High School's Class 2A state championship teams in 1986 and 1987, has accepted a men's basketball assistant position at his alma mater.

"The opportunity presented itself and I've always had a goal to coach at the four-year level," Ressel said.

Ressel has spent the last 10 years at Rend Lake in Ina, Ill. -- the first three as a men's assistant, and the latter seven as the women's coach, where he compiled a 118-92 record.

"I enjoyed it," Ressel said of his stay at Rend Lake, a two-year school. "They've had a great athletic department to work for the last 10 years."

At Missouri Southern, Ressel will join his former mentor Robert Corn, whom he played under for two years after transferring from East Central College in Union, Mo.

"We've stayed in contact since I've graduated from there," Ressel said. "He's actually the one that helped me get my job at Rend Lake as assistant men's coach."

Corn, a former assistant under Gene Bartow at the University of Alabama-Birmingham., took over at Missouri Southern, a Division II school, in Ressel's first season. Ressel served as his point guard, picking up honorable mention all-MIAA honors as a junior. He later served as a student assistant to Corn for one year before accepting the job at Rend Lake.

"I learned a lot from coach Corn," Ressel said. "The way I coach are a lot of the same things he did when I played for him. Same offense and defense. I'm sure he's changed a few things and I've changed, but I'm sure there are a lot of similarities."

Both coaches adhere to an up-tempo offensive coupled with an aggressive man-to-man defense.

Missouri Southern recently had the position open and Corn called Ressel over the Fourth of July weekend. Ressel went to Joplin the following week and accepted the job. His duties begin Aug. 1.

"We're in the process, probably this weekend, of heading out there to look for a place to live," said Ressel, who will be making the move with his wife, Pamela, and son, Kristopher. "I really like the area. It's very similar to the Cape Girardeau area as far as the size of the town. It's almost like home. It's not, but it almost is."

jbreer@semissourian.com

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