EDITORIAL: Under Guevara's leadership, women's hoops program embodies 'championship culture'
Central Michigan University's women's basketball team fell short of its goal to make the NCAA Tournament this season. But the 10-year head coach Sue Guevara has turned the program into the embodiment of “championship culture.”
The Chippewas lost to Western Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on March 8. Nevertheless, Guevara and her squad deserve recognition for their accomplishments this season and the success the program has seen in recent years.
CMU finished 23-8 in 2016-2017 to notch the program's seventh 20-win season during the past eight years. Guevara has a career record of 198-149 at CMU. Under her leadership, the program has won three MAC West Division championships and made the NCAA Tournament once. It has produced a MAC Player of the Year Award winner in Crystal Bradford, who was then drafted in the first round of the WNBA Draft and a MAC Freshman of the Year Award winner.
Guevara was named MAC Coach of the Year for turning a 13-8 team in 2014-2015 into a 22-11 team in 2015-2016.
She gets the most out of her players on and off the court.
In addition to athletic goals, Guevara's teams set the bar high in their classwork as well. The team recorded a 3.1 combined grade point average in the Fall 2015 semester. Each member of her coaching staff closely mentors three to four players and meets with them for academic purposes once a week.
“I tell our players, if you don’t go to class, if you’re late for class — we get class reports — they know they’re not coming to practice,” Guevara said in a February 2016 interview. “They know taking care of their academics is very, very important.”
The team also participates in philanthropic events, like leading a collection drive to send bottled water to Flint last year at the height of the city's water crisis. When senior Jasmine Harris came to her with the idea for the drive, Sue empowered Harris and the team to follow through until the water was delivered.
That is because the program is led from the top down. It all starts with Sue's leadership.
She has an impressive resume for a coach who is paid a base salary that is $96,000-less than her male counterpart, men's basketball head coach Keno Davis.
But that’s a different editorial.
This editorial is about the progress of a coach who grabs the microphone after every home game — win or lose — and personally thanks the crowd at McGuirk Arena for supporting her players.
We think Sue is a one-of-a-kind person and one of our university’s best ambassadors. She is striving to create a real championship culture at CMU.
Although the team did not reach its ultimate goal this season of dancing in March, Sue and her players wanted to keep playing and accepted an invitation to the Women's National Invitational Tournament.
The team tips off against Wright State at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio.
As Guevara put it, “our season isn’t over.”
A win against the Raiders would give the Chippewas their first postseason victory in program history. A WNIT championship would be a profound accomplishment for a mid-major like CMU.
For Sue, there are still lessons to teach and progress for her players to make — maybe early preparations for next season.
And that’s what winning is about.
That passion for the game, teaching it and striving to be the best at it, embodies the championship culture that former Athletics Director Dave Heeke preached about — despite not always winning the trophy.
Keep up the good work, Sue. Keep up the good work, players.
It does not go unnoticed.
