Colorado University Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- bethann.ord@colorado.edu
- Phone:
- 303-492-6086
Bethann Shapiro Ord is in her second season as an assistant coach with the University of Colorado women’s basketball program as she joined the staff on May 16, 2005. She is active in the recruiting process, serves as CU’s compliance liaison and assists with guard development on the court.
Ord, 38, was instrumental in bringing the No. 29 recruiting class in the nation to Boulder for 2006-07. The Buffs signed five top 150 players for the 2006-07 season, a feat even more impressive considering the staff did not arrive on campus until well after the recruiting season had started. The Buffs claimed one of the top recruits in Colorado ? a priority for the McConnell-Miller staff ? in Aija Putnina who helped Regis to the Class 4A championship game. CU also grabbed two highly-regarded recruits from Tennessee in Whitney Houston and Candace Rucker, and Courtney Dunn from California.
Ord came to Colorado from the University of Tulsa where she was an assistant under Kathy McConnell-Miller who had been named head women’s basketball coach at CU just a few weeks earlier. She spent six seasons at Tulsa with McConnell-Miller where she served as the program’s recruiting coordinator, assisted with opponent scouting and was the team’s academic and compliance liaison with the TU athletic department.
Ord’s recruiting efforts at Tulsa resulted in three top 50 recruiting classes and one in the top 25 Tulsa program that had only 81 wins in the previous 14 years of the program. Tulsa participated in the 2004 and. She was a part of 91 victories in six years at a 2005 WNIT, the only two postseason appearances in team history. Ord helped the Golden Hurricane land at least on player on either the All-Western Athletic Conference first or second teams in each of the past six seasons.
A 16-year veteran of the coaching ranks, Ord spent one season as an assistant at the University of Dayton (1997-98), serving as the recruiting coordinator, and one season at Auburn University (1996-97) where she was an assistant coach and director of basketball operations. Her Auburn team won the 1997 Southeastern Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Ord spent four seasons at the University of Pittsburgh (1992-96), helping the Panthers to a WNIT appearance in the 1995 WNIT. After her first season at Pittsburgh, she was an assistant coach with the Big East Conference All-Star Tour in Soa Paulo, Brazil in 1993. It was at Pittsburgh where Ord initially coached with McConnell-Miller, who was a Panthers assistant from 1991-93.
Ord earned her master’s degree in elementary education in 1992 from Wagner College, where she spent two years as an assistant.
In 1998-99, the year prior to starting at Tulsa, Ord was the head women’s coach for Western New York in the Empire State Games. Hired by the Buffalo Sabres as a consultant and was in charge of public and community relations for the Buffalo Bandits professional lacrosse team. She was also the coordinator of arena athletics for the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.
“Coach Ord is a veteran recruiter and tireless worker both on and off the court, and that is exactly what we need at Colorado,” McConnell-Miller said. “She knows the types of players it takes to win championships and has had a lot of success recruiting on the national level for the past 16 years. Bethann has a great relationship with players and coaches and has had an immediate impact on the CU women’s basketball program.”
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Ord earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in 1989. She was a three-year letterwinner and starter at point guard for the Retrievers. After graduation, she worked as an assistant coach at Nazareth College.
The former Bethann Shapiro, she married Jim Ord on Aug. 9, 2003.
