ANCHORAGE – University of Alaska Anchorage athletic
director Dr. Steve Cobb announced Tuesday that Nathan Altenhofen has
been hired as the Seawolves’ women’s basketball coach.
The ninth head coach in program history, Altenhofen comes to UAA having
most recently served as an assistant at Division I Indiana University.
Prior to that, he spent six years as a collegiate head coach from
2004-10, compiling a 153-40 record at Odessa (Texas) College – where his
team won the 2007 NJCAA national title – and Saint Ambrose (Iowa)
University.
“My wife and I feel very blessed with this great opportunity to be the
next women’s basketball coach at Alaska Anchorage,” said Altenhofen, who
hails originally from Springfield, Minn. “The women’s basketball
program has been among the top 10 programs in NCAA Division II for the
past five years, and I look forward to the challenge of maintaining that
success and the new goals that come with it. I am honored and would
like to thank Chancellor Tom Case and Dr. Cobb for this opportunity. Our
family also looks forward to being actively involved in the Anchorage
community.”
“We believe that we have found the right coach to continue the tradition
of excellence for Seawolf Women’s Basketball,” said Dr. Cobb. “Coach
Altenhofen has a demonstrated record of success and a strong passion for
the sport of basketball. He will bring an exciting brand of basketball,
coupled with a commitment to championship-level performance.”
Altenhofen compiled a 73-25 record at Saint Ambrose from 2007-10. In his
debut season at SAU, he was named the Midwest Collegiate Conference
Coach of the Year after guiding the Queen Bees to a Sweet 16 appearance
at the NAIA National Tournament. The Bees finished 29-6 that year and
followed up with a 20-11 campaign in 2008-09 and a 24-8 mark in 2009-10.
At Odessa, Altenhofen led the Wranglers to back-to-back National Junior
College Athletic Association title games in 2006 and 2007, capturing the
championship and NJCAA National Coach of the Year honors in the 2006-07
season. In his second and third seasons, the Wranglers compiled a 66-3
record – the best mark in all of college basketball in that span – and
were ranked in the NJCAA Top 10 for 16 consecutive months.
Altenhofen brings additional Div. I coaching experience from both Murray
State (2003-04) and Arkansas State (1999-2002), serving as an assistant
coach and recruiting coordinator for both programs. At ASU, he helped
the Lady Indians to their first-ever Top 25 ranking and a berth in the
2000 WNIT.
From 2002-03, Altenhofen worked as a talent scout for the All-Star Girls
Report, where he evaluated national girls high school basketball
talent.
Altenhofen began his coaching career at the high school level in 1993
and was a summer AAU coach from 1994-99. During that stint he guided
such players as 2000 L'adidas High School All-American Tera Bjorklund
and 2002 Big Ten MVP Lindsay Whalen. Overall, Altenhofen helped develop
more than 40 future Div. I players during his five years as a summer AAU
coach.
With UAA, Altenhofen inherits a Seawolf program that has reached six
straight NCAA Division II Tournaments, including three trips to the
Elite Eight and a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference
regular-season and postseason tournament titles. The Seawolves went 30-5
in 2011-12 and finished with a No. 7 national ranking.
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