UW-Platteville introduced Paul Combs as the 13th head men's coach of the Pioneers.
Combs was introduced to the UW-Platteville community April 16 in a packed news conference.
"I'm overwhelmed by this audience," Combs said. "This is a sign of good things to come ... It's a great day, and we're excited to be here."
He replaces Todd Landrum, who went 58-45 in four seasons following Bo Ryan's tenure at the school. Ryan led the Pioneers to the national title in 1991, 1995, 1998 and 1999.
Combs turned Lakeland around in his four-year tenure, taking over a program that had won 20 games in the three previous years and led the Muskies to a 60-45 mark. The Sheboygan, Wis., school won 10 games in 1999-2000, then 15, 16 and 19. Combs' 2002-03 club was 19-8 overall and won its second consecutive Lake Michigan Conference title. The Muskies also achieved their first-ever NCAA Division III regional ranking and ranked 15th in the final national scoring defensive rankings (62.3 ppg).
Under Combs, the Muskies have a homecourt record of 23-1 in the last two years. Lakeland captured the eight-team Clarke College Holiday Tournament title in December, beating nationally ranked Cardinal Stritch 68-67 in the title game. Cardinal Stritch defeated UW-Platteville 87-80 in the tournament semifinals, and the Pioneers wound up in fourth place.
Combs inherits a UW-Platteville program coming off three consecutive 7-9 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finishes. Seven seniors graduated from this year's 11-15 Pioneer team, while six lettermen return.
The new coach is excited about the 2003-04 Pioneers and the task ahead.
"I told the team we're not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow," he said. "Take care of business today and become the best you can be. That's what we can control."
UW-Platteville is steeped in basketball tradition, as current Badger coach Bo Ryan built the program into the nation's winningest program in the 1990s, with a 266-26 mark and four national championships in the decade. Combs is eager to embrace that tradition.
"The rich tradition is a positive," he said. "Having Coach Ryan and his staff 60 miles down the road is a benefit. They're professional colleagues of mine and friends of mine. We're going to try and emulate a lot of those traits. We're very proud of what happened here in the 1990s and we're going to build off that."
One trait the Pioneers will continue to display is strong defense, Combs said.
"Every great team needs solid defense," he said. "We're going to feed off our defense to set up the offense."
Before Lakeland, Combs had been the top assistant at Ripon, helping his alma mater to a 102-21 record with four NCAA Tournament appearances in his five years. Combs earned his bachelor's degree in Business Management from Ripon in 1993. He was a point guard and captain of the Red Hawks' nationally-ranked team in 1992-93. He will complete his master's degree in Educational Leadership at UW-Oshkosh this summer.