Idaho Vandal women’s basketball head coach Arthur Moreira announced the addition of Lindsey Foster and Derek Saich to the coaching staff on Tuesday afternoon. Foster and Saich will join the Vandals as assistant coaches.
Assistant Coach Foster
Foster comes to Idaho after one season at the University of Montana as an assistant coach for the 2023-24 season. In her lone season at Montana, the Lady Griz won 23 games and advanced to the WNIT, winning their first national postseason tournament game for the first time since 2014.
“We are thrilled to have Lindsey join our staff,” said head coach Moreira. “Not only is she very experienced, but she is familiar with the area and our conference after spending a few years at Gonzaga and this past season at the University of Montana. She has very strong recruiting connections on the West Coast and truly cares about providing a positive experience for our student-athletes”
Prior to Montana, Foster served as the head coach at the Academy of Art in San Francisco for the 2022-23 season. In her debut season as head coach, the Urban Knights swept multiple Pacific West Conference opponents, set new records, and produced a D2CCA All-West Region Second Team and All-PacWest First Team honoree in Alisha Wilson.
Much like head coach, Arthur Moreira, Foster had a stint at Sonoma State with the women’s program for three years starting as the lead assistant and finishing as the associate head coach. SSU went 15-13 overall and made the conference tournament in her first season. The team was led by Kylie Kiech and CCAA Defensive Player of the Year, Ugochi Anudokem, both 1,000-point scorers in their collegiate careers at SSU.
Foster’s first assistant coaching role was at another DII program, St. Martin’s in the GNAC conference. She spent two seasons at Saint Martin’s from 2017-19. She helped mentor the team’s leading scorer and 2017-18 GNAC Freshman of the Year in Saniah Simpson-Patu. The following year, she helped develop the next GNAC Freshman of the Year in Claire Dingus.
Foster started her coaching career at Gonzaga University as a volunteer assistant coach from 2015-17. At Gonzaga, she was part of the coaching staff that led the Bulldogs to the WCC Conference Championship title in 2017, finishing the year with a 26-7 record and an appearance in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
As a former collegiate women’s basketball student-athlete, Foster has experience playing at a high level. She spent her first two years at Notre Dame de Namur before transferring to the University of La Verne for her final two seasons. At La Verne, she was named to the First Team All-SCIAC and was a team captain during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. She was a dual-sport athlete who competed in the long and triple jumps for the La Verne track and field team. Foster graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a concentration in public relations.
Assistant Coach Saich
Derek Saich comes to Idaho after three seasons at the University of San Francisco. AT USF, he served as the director of basketball operations and as an assistant coach.
“I am really excited to be working with Derek again,” said head coach Moreira. “He is the hardest worker I have ever met in the business and has a very impressive resume. Everywhere he has been, they won. Derek has worked for two coaches that I respect and admire a lot in Eric Musselman and Molly Goodenbour. He is a relentless worked and already hit the ground running for us.”
Saich spent two seasons coaching alongside coach Moreira for the Dons. He joined USF for the 2021-22 season and served his first year as the director of basketball operations. He was promoted to assistant coach for the 2022-23 season.
As an assistant coach, Saich prepared scouting reports, walk-throughs, and game plans for the Dons. Saich was responsible for all film operations and provided analytical reports for upcoming opponents.
At USF, Saich aided in the development of three WCC First Team members, one newcomer of the year, and one WCC Second Team honoree. Ioanna Krimili, Jasmine Gayles, and Debora dos Santos were all selected to the first team at least once. Krimili was a two-time selection and Gayles was also named the 6th Woman of the Year. Saich mentored Freja Werth this past season, who was crowned the WCC Newcomer of the Year.
In his time with the Dons, the team had back-to-back WNIT berths in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. In the past three years, USF finished third, fourth, and tied for third in the WCC.
Prior to San Francisco, Saich spent three years with Texas Southern University’s men’s basketball program as the video coordinator from 2018 to 2020. His duties included helping coordinate team travel, transportation, and meals as well as finding and budgeting everything technologically related within the program. His time in Houston included preparing opponent scouting reports, walk-throughs, and game plans for head coach Johnny Jones and the rest of the staff.
Prior to that, Saich spent two years working with the University of Nevada, Reno’s men’s basketball team which included a run to the Sweet 16 under former head coach Eric Musselman. Saich served as the video coordinator for the Wolfpack and created recruiting materials and graphics for social media, mailouts, and promotions as well as creating a play database for the coaching staff that included plays and drills.
Saich’s first position with a collegiate basketball program was with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men’s basketball team as the Director of Academics/Video Coordinator. He monitored student-athlete academic progression and coordinated weekly meetings with each player to develop strategic plans to manage coursework. To go along with these duties, Saich also compiled all practice/game film for opponents and the coaching staff.
Graduating in 2015, Saich holds a Bachelor of Science degree from UCSB in Biophilosophy as well as a certificate in sports marketing.
