Veteran college basketball coach Ted Eskildsen hired to lead women's program at Marietta College
Eskildsen brings 22 years of head collegiate coaching experience to Marietta

Apr. 21, 2006
MARIETTA, Ohio – Veteran college basketball coach Ted Eskildsen, whose most recent post was with St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, has been hired as Marietta College’s women’s basketball coach.

The announcement was made Friday by Debora Lazorik, Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation.

“I am extremely pleased to have Ted Eskildsen as a member of our athletics department,” Lazorik said. “Ted brings more than 20 year of head coaching experience, with much success. I am confident that he will move our women's basketball program forward and will position us to compete successfully in the Ohio Athletic Conference."

Eskildsen, who will officiallty begin on June 1, is the 10th coach at Marietta in its 32-year history and replaces interim coach Tad Secrest, who took over in January and led the Pioneers for the rest of the 2005-06 season. Marietta finished 6-19.

"I am very pleased to be joining the Marietta College community and am looking forward to working with the women who are a part of the basketball program,” Eskildsen said.

At least three starters will return for the Pioneers next season, including second team All-OAC selection Justine Pagenhardt. Pagenhardt led the Pioneers with 19.2 points a game last year as a sophomore.

Marietta opens the 2006-07 season at the Penn State-Behrend Tournament on Nov. 18-19.

From 2000-05, Eskildsen was at the helm of the St. Ambrose women's basketball program. He guided the Queen Bees to a 117-56 mark. In 22 years of head coaching, Eskildsen’s career record currently stands at 309-289.

Eskildsen hails from Elizabeth, N.J., and played his college days at Belmont Abbey in Belmont, N.C. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in history, Eskildsen began his coaching career while completing his Masters of Education Counseling degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

From North Carolina, Eskildsen made a coaching stop at Hawthorne College in New Hampshire before spending six years at Iowa's Grinnell College. At Grinnell, Eskildsen became the school's all-time winningest coach and turned a perennial losing program into a three-time conference champion. He also coached two Academic All-Americans and three 1,000-point scorers. 

Eskildsen then spent two years at Bethany (W.Va.) College and five at Mount Holyoke in South Hadley, Mass., where he led the program to its first winning season in 15 years and recruited the school's all-time leaders in rebounds, steals, and three point shooting.

Eskildsen and his wife, Barbara, have two children, T.J. and Annie.

Ted Eskildsen was named the new women's basketball coach at Marietta College Friday