Colorado University Athletics
Lappe's Leap No Surprise To Former Coach, Teammates
BOULDER - News of Linda Lappe's relatively quick ascent to a head basketball coaching position at a BCS school didn't shock Mitch Wachs. Lappe's former teammates at the University of Colorado also could see it coming.
In fact, Wachs, who had Lappe in his mathematics class at Winfield-Mount Union High School and also coached her through a Hall of Fame career in Winfield, Iowa, might have been more surprised had Lappe's rise in college hoops not been so swift.
Eventually, Lappe's considerable skills in math and virtually every other subject came to be overshadowed by her penchant for playing basketball and an increasing appetite to digest every detail of the sport that would take her to college, then help launch a career.
Still Winfield-Mount Union's head coach, Wachs remembers Lappe sitting in the stands in the gym as a seventh and eighth grader taking mental notes while restless classmates made endless trips for pop and popcorn.
"She was watching practice and actually figuring out the game," he said. "Not only was she a gifted athlete, she became a student of the game. That's how she's always been."
A COUPLE OF DECADES later, Lappe's incomparable work ethic and appetite for her game aren't close to being sated - and that's what her alma mater is wagering on. CU on Monday announced that Lappe will be the Buffaloes' seventh women's basketball coach. Her return trip to Boulder is a relatively short one: She was the head coach for the last seasons at Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she was compiled a 50-36 overall record (27-20 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference).
Lappe, 30, was CU's first choice to replace Kathy McConnell-Miller, and the announcement of Lappe's return stoked former teammates whose time in Boulder either coincided with or overlapped a college career that Lappe, a 2002 graduate, might recall as much for the injuries she endured as the Buffs' success.
"Looking past basketball, you'd want her on your side in anything you do . . . she's a warrior," said former CU center Tera Bjorklund, who has been Lappe's roommate in downtown Denver since October and now works in communications at Level 3 in Broomfield.
"The first things I think of when I hear Linda's name are tough, hard worker, competitive and the ultimate team player," said former Buffs forward Sabrina Scott, who has spent the last seven seasons playing professionally in Europe. "She'll do whatever it takes it win. To me, those are the greatest attributes a teammate can have."
Former Buffs guard Kate Fagan called Lappe "the most determined and hard-working player I can remember. It wasn't an anomaly for coach (Ceal) Barry to recruit that kind, but (Lappe) went above and beyond - and that's what made her stand out. She's one of my favorites."
IN TRUTH, SHE WAS one of everybody's favorites - a humble, often reserved, honors student (she maintained just under a 4.0 average in business) who transformed herself into a whirlwind of hustle on the court. Teammates got a kick out of her knee pads, but they were worn for a reason: If the Big 12 Conference had kept statistics on floor burns, Lappe might still hold the record.
Scott called her "the epitome of calm, cool and collected . . . she never gets too high with the good times or too low with the tough times. She is reserved, but definitely has that fire when it comes to competition and basketball."
A two-year captain at CU and three-time Big 12 All-Academic selection, Lappe had one of the most productive freshman seasons (1998-99) in school history. Then the injuries hit - and hard. Over the next three seasons she underwent four surgeries to repair a fractured left kneecap and a bone defect in her left ankle.
Former teammates still shudder at the memory of Lappe coming to a jump stop after dribbling across the top of the free throw line at the Coors Events Center on Nov. 21, 1999 in CU's home opener against Michigan.
It is normally a mundane moment in hoops, but it wasn't for Lappe. Somehow, her left couldn't withstand it. She fractured her left patella and was lost for the season. Scott will never forget it and how it affected the Buffs: "We were devastated, because we all cared for her as a teammate and we knew how much we'd miss her on the court."
Said Fagan, who after graduation from CU worked at pair of smaller newspapers before being hired by the Philadelphia Inquirer (she covers the NBA's Sixers): "She had so many injuries . . . any one of us would have hung it up after surgery No. 2. You just got the sense that if someone would carry that attitude through (after basketball), it would be her."
AFTER REDSHIRTING IN the 1999-2000 season, Lappe made a maniacal return in the rehabbing of her knee injury. That drive also was evident when she came back from her eventual ankle injuries over the next two seasons.
But at less than 100 percent physically, she still set the pace when Barry would run the Buffs.
"She would do her rehab, then come out and practice, and for someone who couldn't go through the full practices, she was still the fastest one, the one leading the sprints," recalled Bjorklund.
"Her lips would be purple, she was working so hard. She knew for the team to get better, she didn't care about the pain she would go through - blue lips and all."
Fagan noticed, too. Who wouldn't? And the impression went beyond lasting.
"You knew she wouldn't be the one who wound up working at 7-Eleven," Fagan said. "You just knew she would hit the ground running."
Lappe did - and slowing to a trot has been out of the question.
After spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Drake University, she worked for one season as an assistant at Colorado State before landing Metro State's head coaching job in 2006.
FROM DAY 1, METRO STATE athletic director Joan McDermott knew what she had in Lappe, calling her "a great coach, a big star in the making" and a natural fit for CU.
Lappe's final Metro State record (17-12 overall, 11-8 in the RMAC) belies her coaching job and the discipline she demanded. She ended the season with a roster devoid of any player over 5-foot-10, booting a 6-foot senior who at the time was her leading scorer and No. 2 rebounder and also dismissing a promising freshman front-liner. Each played in four games and were dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
"She stuck to her guns, but was still very fair about things," Bjorklund, her roommate, remembered. "She simply had no post players for most of the season, but she never used that as an excuse."
Making excuses never fit the personality of a player her former teammates knew was destined to coach. So did Wachs, her former high school coach who was present two years ago when Lappe was inducted into the Iowa Girls Basketball Hall of Fame.
He said Lappe, who still ranks 15th in scoring in Iowa history (1,987 points) and is just one of two players in the state to finish their careers with over 700 rebounds, 600 assists and 400 steals, "was able to elevate our entire school."
Even so, it never changed her or how she was viewed by her teachers, coaches or peers.
Said Wachs: "When some people are successful, it can rub other people the wrong way. That never happened with Linda; she had that persona around her - the way she interacts with people, her truthfulness and her knowledge of the game."
Lappe will need all of that knowledge, as well as any she has in reserve, as she breaks into the nation's most demanding women's basketball league. The Big 12 routinely put seven to eight team in the women's weekly Top 25 this season and had two of its members (Baylor, Oklahoma) reach the Final Four.
BUT THOSE WHO KNOW her best believe Lappe can meet that challenge and revive CU women's hoops.
"She might be the evolution of what CU needs in this generation of recruiting and coaching," Fagan said. "She's got her own ideas of how to do things. To me, she seems to have the perfect combination of what it's going to take to bring back the tradition to the program.
"And I think she's going to have an easier job of returning those fans who might have walked away. With her knowledge and her attachment there, maybe it'll be easier. I'm hoping so."
Still, Fagan recognizes what Lappe is stepping into: "It would be crazy to say this is not a huge leap for her at her age. But just from playing with her, I think I'm able to say she can handle the challenge."
Added Bjorklund: "Anyone coaching in the Big 12 faces challenges - it's a tough, tough conference to be in. But I think the biggest factor for Linda is going to be that everyone surrounding her - academics, weight lifting, all those things - she has to have everyone buy in for her to be successful. They have to be in it 100 percent. It'll take a team effort to get back to where CU has been. And, of course, having a resource like coach Barry there is invaluable."
Wachs remains in close contact with his former high school prodigy, texting her frequently and making a point to see her when the occasion presents itself on holidays. Of all the emotions he's felt since learning of Lappe's major step up, apprehension for her is nowhere on the list.
"Nothing she could ever do would surprise me," he said. "So this doesn't surprise me in the least. She played for one of the all-time great coaches there (at CU), and I'm sure she learned a lot under her. She's acutely aware of what it takes to compete.
"She's a one-of-a-kind basketball player, but a once-in-a-lifetime kind of person. I know one thing, I'd never doubt her. That's about all I can say as far as predictions."
In February 2003, with the end to a fulfilling yet surely frustrating college career rapidly approaching, Lappe said in a story posted on CUBuffs.com, "Anything can be achieved if you try and work hard at it.
"I'm very proud that I've proved to myself that I can do anything if I want to do it. If you know that, you can go a long way in life."
Her next step brings her home.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU