Whitman women’s basketball coach Michelle Ferenz has announced the hiring of Rachel Swartz as assistant coach.

We are excited to have Rachel join our staff,” said Ferenz. “With her experience as a player at Missouri State and as a graduate assistant at Drury, Rachel has worked with some of the best coaching staffs in the game. Her passion for teaching the game and developing student-athletes as people and players is exactly what we value here at Whitman. We are fortunate to have such a talented young coach join our basketball family and glad she wanted to head back home to continue her career.”

“I want to thank Coach Ferenz for giving me this opportunity to assist in the continued development of a nationally-known women’s basketball program,” said Swartz. “I’m looking forward to working alongside a well-respected coaching staff and anxious to get the season going. We have a Northwest Conference championship to win!”

Swartz comes from Division II Drury University where she was a graduate assistant coach for the 2018-19 season, also working to complete her Master’s in Organizational Communications. She was part of a Drury coaching staff that went 35-1 this past season, their only loss coming in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament.

Swartz also brings Division coaching experience to the position. Prior to her year at Drury, she spent the 2017-18 season as a graduate assistant at East Tennessee State, helping the Bucs to an appearance in the WNIT.

She was also a standout Division I student-athlete, playing four seasons at Missouri State where she left the program ranked 12th in program history in game played. She was a part of two WNIT teams, a Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship in 2016 as well as their NCAA tournament squad.

Swartz graduated from Missouri State with a degree in Communications.
https://athletics.whitman.edu/news/2019/8/20/swartz-named-to-womens-basketball-coaching-staff.aspx