By Jayson Larson/TVCC Public Information
Former Trinity Valley Community College head women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015.
The announcement was made Saturday on ESPN during the WNBA All-Star Game at US Airways Center in Phoenix. Budke is one of six inductees, joining Janeth Arcain (player), Gail Goestenkors (coach), Janet Harris (player), Lisa Leslie (player) and Brad Smith (coach). The Class of 2015 will be formally inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on June 13, 2015, in Knoxville, Tenn.
Budke was the head coach of the TVCC Lady Cardinals from 1993 to 2000. During those seven years, the team appeared in the national tournament six times, winning four national championship titles. In Budke’s career at TVCC, the Lady Cardinals lost at home only two times. He led the team to some of their best season records ever, including an undefeated 36-0 season in 1999.
At the junior college level, Budke has a combined record of 273-31 (.898), resulting in the highest winning percentage in NJCAA history. He was the NJCAA National Coach of the Year in both 1995 and 1998 and was the Texas Coaches Association Coach of the Year for each of the four years the Lady Cardinals took the national title.
In addition, he is the youngest coach to ever be inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
From 2002-2005 at Louisiana Tech, he compiled a record of 80-16 leading Louisiana Tech to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. At Oklahoma State his teams went 112-83 highlighted by a Sweet 16 appearance in 2008.
That same year, he became a member of the inaugural class of the TVCC Cardinal Hall of Fame.
Budke died in a plane crash in 2011.