The Hillsdale College women’s basketball team welcomed Charlie Averkamp as the new head coach this spring, right in the middle of a pandemic.
Averkamp previously coached at Benedictine University, an NCAA Division III institution in Lisle, Illinois. His five-year run as head coach at Benedictine was the best in the school’s history. Now, Averkamp said he’s excited for the next challenge and chapter of his coaching career at Hillsdale.
“When you step on campus here at Hillsdale, once you meet with the people, you realize that it’s a first class institution,” Averkamp said. “It’s a place where you can combine high academics with high athletics and for me it was really a perfect fit.”
Two years ago, he led the Benedictine Eagles to a new school record with 21 wins in the season. The following year, they broke their own record with 24 wins. He also led the team to its first conference title for the first time since 1997, and made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002.
At Benedictine, Averkamp stressed the importance of building a culture and allowing athletes to buy into something bigger than themselves. He said he hopes to encourage the same type of culture at Hillsdale. He also acknowledged the challenges of having a new coaching staff, as assistant coaches Amanda Parker and Angela Vecchiarelli are new this year as well. Despite these changes, however, he hopes to build trust between the coaches and athletes.
Averkamp took the job during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when much about the season was still unknown. Senior point guard Jaycie Burger said that the adjustment during quarantine was difficult and the Chargers didn’t have the insight they would have had if they were on campus.
But as COVID restrictions relaxed, the team was able to be involved in the interviewing and hiring process, and Burger said that this was helpful.
“The coaching staff has done a really good job of bringing us all together and not forcing us to fit in some mold,” Burger said. “One thing they’ve said that’s been helpful for all of us is that we chose to come to Hillsdale, and they may not have recruited us, but they chose to come to Hillsdale because we’re here. So I think that they’re doing a really good job of helping us to grow and become better people and better basketball players.”
Averkamp said the team will continue to work hard as if games are starting on time. Burger agreed that a later start to the season offers some unexpected benefits for the team.
“Any extra time that we have to get used to our structure and to get used to playing in a new way is definitely going to be valuable,” Burger said. “But we’ll be ready whenever.”
Under Averkamp’s leadership, the Chargers will be disciplined and prepared for the season.
“I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season and we don’t know how that’s going to look yet, but once we do figure it out, we’re going to be a team that defends. We’re going to be a team that pushes the ball in transition,” Averkamp said “We’re going to be very, very disciplined and we’re going to be very, very fun to watch.”
