Rojo Gato

...That's what Abilene Christian's announcer Grant Boone called her, "rojo gato", or "red cat" in Spanish. She is a red-head and her first name is Kat. Kat Kundmueller is the first assistant women's basketball coach in Faulkner University history.

I believe unequivocally that God answer's prayer. The Bible and history books have proven that. My personal life is a case study in answered prayer at every turn of my career.

I thought I had picked the perfect assistant back in January. I talked to her and she was interested. She had a solid playing career at a high-major university and was highly recommended. Time passed, however, and things stalled in our conversations. I don't think it was anyones fault, circumstances just slowed things down. I decided to focus on recruiting players first and then concentrate on an assistant. Once we got our 15th commitment from Linzee Kerce (whom we signed last night at Camp Ney-a-Ti in Guntersville, AL), I turned my focus toward hiring the right assistant.

So I texted the one that "I" wanted and we went back and forth and she just wasn't as excited about coming out for an interview as I would have liked. I was a little frustrated at first, but realized that might have been God's way of slowly closing a door. In the meantime, I had been calling around to some othe Christian high school and college women's basketball coaches. The first call I made was to Mark Campbell of Union University. His team has won the last two NAIA national championships and he runs the model small college program. He did not know of anyone off hand, but he gave me great advice. He told me that basketball background was virtually irrelevant for him as far as assistants go. They don't have to be perfect, but they have to be Godly women who will commit to working hard at mentoring the young ladies in the program. He also mentioned that they have to be someone he knew his wife would be comfortable with. I thought that was great advice so I start praying for God to send me that person.

As I called around to high school and college coaches, there was one name that came up a couple of times as a young lady fresh off a great college playing career who was very spiritually minded, a competitor, and had the intangibles to be an outstanding coach. So I called Kat. She played high school ball at Euless Trinity in Texas before transferring to play for Coach John Anderson at Fort Worth Christian her junior and senior years. Fort Worth Christian is a private school powerhouse rival that my team at Westbury Christian had to play in the state semi's this year to advance. When Kat was playing, it was not a rivalry...they just beat us. They had a great team full of outstanding college level talent. Kat just graduated from Abilene Christian University. She was a prolific point guard for Coach Shawna Lavender that was 2nd in the country in assists last year in NCAA Division II. She was also number 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio (my favorite stat). More than her playing statistics, however, was the recurring theme of her natural gift of leadership, her eagerness to learn, and her heart for service. These attributes are extremely evident after a couple of phone conversations, some emails, and a campus visit with Kat. I am confident that she was "God's" choice for our program. I had to get out of the way and let Him choose.

I am very excited about how the team has taken shape and I sense the Holy Spirit's blessings on our University and the basketball programs. I will sum it up with Kat's thoughts in a text she sent me last night when she returned home to Texas. She texted some thoughts about our potential motto (or mission statement) for next year. She wrote, "Our hearts and our eyes are focused on Christ so our destination is clear; we give everything every time for our team, our God, and His glory".

If we heed the thoughts that were in her heart as she sent that text, we are assured of success regardless of the numbers left on the scoreboard at the end of a game.

Welcome, Coach Kat!

Coach