Photo by Tim Barnett-Queen
By Zack Ponce
Women’s head basketball coach Mark Trakh was hired last year to try and rebuild an Aggie program that had hit rock bottom under the previous administration.
Trakh has a proven record of success – he led Pepperdine to three
NCAA Tournament appearances and made it back to the dance twice more with
Southern California. Trakh had just one
losing season in his 17 years coaching at the collegiate level prior to joining
New Mexico State.
The Aggies finished with a 6-24 record and placed at the
bottom of the Western Athletic Conference last season. But entering year two, Trakh’s impact can
already be felt in Las Cruces.
Trakh snagged three prized recruits last season in the class
of 2012 that were each rated three-star prospects by ESPN’s HoopGurlz
recruiting website – point guard Sasha Weber, guard Shay Young, and forward
Abby Scott.
“We’re recruiting kids that wanna play ball and the culture
has changed,” Trakh said.
“Kids are coming I think because they believe in the vision
we have, but now we still gotta turn it around on the court and win some
games. The main reason I’ve recruited
well is because I have great assistants that get out there and recruit, and develop
relationships (with prospective recruits).”
The California connection is evident on this 2012-13 Aggies
team.
Assistant coach Aarika Hughes was recruited by and played
for Trakh at USC from 2007-09. Four
players hail from the golden state, three of whom Trakh brought to the team.
A fifth player, senior Stefanie Gilbreath, transferred to
NMSU over the summer from USC, and had played under Trakh during his tenure
with the Trojans. Gilbreath was selected
as a preseason Second team All-WAC player by the media.
She joins New Mexico State as a sixth-year senior – three
ACL injuries and two stress fractures limited her playing career at USC. But Trakh thinks the former McDonald’s
All-American’s experience will be a huge asset for the Aggies.
“She’s played at Texas A&M and Cameron Indoor against
Duke, so she’s been at that high level.
She’s also a great leader,” Trakh said.
“She might not be as good as she was when we (recruited her to USC), but
she’s still gonna give us 12-14 points-per-game I think. She’s big and strong, and she can jump out of
the gym.”
The talent of the newcomers will be tested this season with
a challenging non-conference schedule. New
Mexico State will play notable games against Loyola Marymount, UC Santa
Barbara, and George Mason, in addition to rivalry games against New Mexico and
Texas-El Paso.
Trakh says he favors scheduling tough opponents instead of
playing “guarantee” games because it toughens his team; and is another cog in
his process of rebuilding the Aggie program.
“At Pepperdine, once we got it going we would (host) a
tournament and I’d invite BCS schools to our tournament,” Trakh explained. “And we beat a lot of those BCS schools after
my fourth or fifth year. So once we get
it going at NMSU, we’ll invite BCS schools to our tournament and try to beat
them.”
Trakh agrees this season’s schedule will be a challenge, and
the results are anyone’s guess.
“We could win every game on our schedule, and we could lose
every game on our schedule,” Trakh said.
“They’re all mid-major (teams).
There are no BCS schools, but there’s no one who’s really weak, they’re
all solid. ”
The future for the NMSU women’s basketball program looks as
bright as the Las Cruces sun; but Trakh says there is still more building to be
done, and his vision won’t be fully realized for another few years.
“If we win some games I think you could draw a decent crowd
to the Pan American Center, and I think we could use our atmosphere to recruit
more people. I wanna see improvement –
maybe 12 to 15 wins – and then build up, build up, build up.”
*Originally posted Nov. 1, 2012 on www.roundupdaily.com*
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