UW-Superior Women's Basketball
Camp Staff
Donald Mulhern
Head Coach
Donald Mulhern, Ph.d, is entering his twenty-third season as a college basketball coach and his fifth season at the University of Wisconsin Superior. During his coaching tenure, he has systematically taken his respective programs and moved each of them in a positive direction.
As the head women's basketball coach at MacMurray College, Don took a program that had a losing record, having won three, four, and five games respectively in the previous seasons, and turned the program into one of the more respected programs in the Midwest. He helped guide the team from a sixth place finish in his first season (92-93 season) to back-to-back conference championships in the 94-95 and 95-96 seasons. He was named Coach of the Year and Co-Coach of the Year during those seasons and his team appeared in its first ever NCAA Division III tournament in 1996.
In 1998-99, his team finished with a 19-8 season and broke the school record for the most wins in a season. In 1999-2000, MacMurray finished 19-6, which enabled them to become conference co-champions in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Mulhern's strong recruiting efforts at MacMurray included having the team's first successful junior varsity program and having four recruits named as MacMurray College Female Rookie of the Year (given to the top female freshman student athlete on campus). In his last season at MacMurray, a freshman women's basketball player was named SLIAC first team all conference and SLIAC Co-Newcomer of the Year. During his overall tenure at MacMurray, Mulhern has had 20 players earn All-SLIAC accolades.
Mulhern's program building success continued at Lindenwood University. As the Head Men's Basketball Coach, he took a team that was in the lower part of the conference, and again began to systematically improve the program through an aggressive recruiting campaign. After a full year on the recruiting trail, he was able to bring in two of the top recruiting classes in the conference (including the HAAC Freshman of the Year and a future All American) and helped the team earn a trip to the HAAC Post Season Basketball tournament. This group of recruits was tabbed as the "team of the future" in the conference. With the core of his recruits intact, these players later moved on to achieve a conference championship and trip to the national tournament.
Due to a desire to move nearer his family and home, Mulhern spent the 2005-2006 season at Rockford College where he helped the team achieve a regular season record of 21-7, while winning the conference championship and the NIIC post season tournament championship. In addition, the team earned a bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament.
During this past season, the Yellowjackets continued moving forward as a program. With a strong and young roster that included three juniors, six sophomores and eight freshmen, the team attained 8 wins during the 2009-10 campaign while competing in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Significant wins included victories vs. WIAC rivals UW Stout, UW River Falls, and UW Oshkosh. The team has continued to upgrade its schedule and is excited about the opponents for the coming season which includes playing an exhibition game vs. the University of Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center and competing against NCAA Division II Twin Ports rival University of MN Duluth.
Also, during the past season, Don was named to the NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee. He was selected for a four year stint on the national rules committee, and is one of three NCAA Division III women's basketball coaches to be selected as a member of this 13 member national committee.
His coaching background also has an international flavor. He has coached several international teams with the United States of America Athletes International program. Mulhern has led trips to Austria, Germany, Paris, Peru and Barbados. These experiences have provided him with the opportunity to experience the international game of basketball and provide summer camps and outreach programs for international youth from many countries. Mulhern has earned a bachelor of science degree from Winona (MN) State University and a master of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. In addition, Mulhern completed his doctoral degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in sport psychology from the University of Minnesota.
A native of Wykoff, MN, Mulhern serves as a lecturer in the Healthy and Human Performance Department at UW Superior. His duties as a lecture including teaching the following courses: Sport Psychology, Adapted Physical Education, Methods and Curriculum in Secondary Physical Education, and Assessment of the Exceptional Child. In addition, Mulhern serves as an advisor to students in the HHP department.
Kim Wagers
Assistant Coach
Kim Wagers is in her second season with the Yellowjacket women's basketball program, and her first as a full-time assistant coach. Last season, Wagers worked with the team on a volunteer basis.
A Moose Lake, Minn. native, Wagers played her college ball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. With the Bulldogs Wagers earned a starting spot in her junior season and was named team captain as a senior. She was a two-time North Central Conference Academic Honor Roll selection and, in 2008, graduated with her bachelor of science degree in exercise science.
Wagers was a volleyball and basketball standout at Moose Lake High School. In her high school career, Wagers not only scored over 1,000 points but she also grabbed over 1,000 rebounds. She earned All-Polar League honors three times and was a four-year starter for the Rebels. In volleyball, Wagers was a three-time All-Polar League selection as a middle hitter and in 2002 was a member of the Minnesota All-State volleyball team.
