The Green Knights enter as the unanimous choice to repeat in the Preseason Coaches Poll after going 15-1 in league play and winning the conference tourney during the 2007-08 season.

Finishing as the runners-up last year, Lake Forest is the clear-cut choice for second as it was ranked lower in only one poll (third). Carroll, Beloit, and Monmouth follow in third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively, with only two votes separating each of them. Illinois College beat out Ripon for sixth place by only five votes while Grinnell, Lawrence, and Knox round out the remaining three spots.

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APPLETON , Wis. -- Marcus Heidorf has been named the new women's basketball coach at Lawrence University, Provost David Burrows announced Thursday. 

Heidorf comes to Lawrence from Alverno College, where he served as an assistant women's basketball coach last season. 

"I am impressed by Marc's enthusiasm and determination to build a strong program," Burrows said. "The students who met him are excited about him and are eager to begin working with him." 

As a native of nearby Manitowoc, Heidorf has closely followed the Lawrence women's basketball program and knows of the team's successes over the past two decades. He believes the Vikings will return to their position as one of the Midwest Conference's top teams. 

"I could not possibly be more honored and excited to be the new head women's basketball coach at Lawrence. This job has been a dream position over the years for me both personally and professionally," Heidorf said. "This is a program that has had success in its very recent history. After meeting the people, players, and staff here, I am convinced that the tools and support necessary to win are in place to enable us to be successful again. We know it's going to take some work to reach those goals, so I'm here ready to roll up my sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done." 

Heidorf has been coaching women's basketball for more than a decade and got his start when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He served as an assistant coach for the 1997-98 season in which UW-Oshkosh won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

A 1998 gradute of UW-Oshkosh with a bachelor's degree in radio/TV/film, Heidorf coached at the high school level from 1998-2006. He worked as the junior varsity head girls' basketball coach at Ripon High School from 1998-2001 before coaching the varsity boys' team at St. Lawrence Seminary from 2001-03. Heidorf was the varsity girls' head coach at Manitowoc Lincoln High School from 2003-05 before spending the 2005-06 season as the varsity girls' assistant coach at Menasha High School. 

Heidorf returned to the college coaching ranks in 2006. While attending graduate school at UW-La Crosse, Heidorf was the graduate assistant coach for the women's basketball team in 2006-07. He received his Master of Science degree in sport administration from UW-La Crosse in 2007. 

While working last season at Alverno, Heidorf helped the Inferno notch its first victory ever in the Northern Athletics Conference, and the team more than doubled its win total from the previous season. 

Heidorf and his wife, Sarah, have a son, Parker, and live in Sherwood. 

Lawrence tips off its season Nov. 15 when it hosts Macalester College. The Vikings return six letterwinners from a team that finished 4-19 overall and 1-15 in Midwest Conference play.

Michelle Walsh (right), the head women's basketball coach at Lawrence, is leaving the college. 

Walsh, who coached the Vikings for one season, has taken an administrative position at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. Walsh is a native of Wakefield, Mass. 

Walsh joined the Lawrence staff in July 2007 after serving as an assistant women's basketball coach at both William Smith College and Smith College. 

Lawrence has already begun a national search for Walsh's successor, according to Co-Director of Athletics Kim Tatro. 

Emily Cline (right) was named the head women's basketball coach at Knox on Monday, May 26. Cline, who will also serve as the head women's golf coach, will begin her duties on July 1. She replaces Wendy Rogers.

Cline spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant women's basketball coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. The Beavers were 13-13 overall and qualified for the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament in her only season on the staff. Before arriving at BVU, she spent the previous four seasons as the assistant coach at Sewanee: The University of the South in Tennessee.

A native of Farming ton, Iowa, Cline lettered in five sports - volleyball, basketball, track and field, softball, and cross country - at Harmony High School. She received her associate of arts degree in social work from East Central College in Union, Missouri, in 1998 before earning a secondary education/English degree from Cornell College in 2001. She was all-conference in basketball and softball at both East Central and Cornell. Cline toured with an Athletes in Action women's basketball team through Bolivia in the summer of 2002.

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Kate Gluckman (right), who helped build a successful women’s basketball program as an assistant coach at Tufts University, has been named the new women’s hoops coach at Grinnell.

Gluckman replaces Andy Hamilton, who resigned as the Pioneers’ mentor after serving six seasons. Gluckman has coached at Tufts since 2006. In her first season at the Massachusetts school, the Jumbos compiled an 18-8 mark. Tufts bettered that record this season, going 26-4 while advancing to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Gluckman also played basketball at Tufts, where she served as team captain in 2003-04 on a squad that went 18-6, the program’s best mark to that date. She was also a member of the Jumbos’ track and field team and earned All-New England honors in the discus in addition to collecting academic all-conference honors.

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Lake Forest athletic director Jackie Slaats officially announced on March 31 that Tamlyn Tills (right) will replace her as the school’s next head women’s basketball coach. In addition to her coaching duties, Tills will be an advisor/coach for the club golf program and assume administrative responsibilities within the department.

Slaats was the team’s head coach for 22 years before resigning from that position at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season.

Tills recently completed her sixth season at Concordia ( Ill.) and her 13th as a collegiate head coach. Her team finished the 2007-08 campaign 17-10 overall and 13-5 in Northern Athletic Conference play. The Cougars reached the semifinals of the conference tournament and came within one win of the program’s record for victories in a season.

Prior to her time at Concordia, Tills was a head coach for three seasons (1999-2002) at Loras and four (1992-96) at Concordia-St. Paul. She was also an assistant coach at the Division I level for three years each at Marquette (1987-90) and Cal State Fullerton (1996-99).

Tills was also a successful player, scoring more than 1,000 career points at both Milwaukee Lutheran and UW-La Crosse. She was an All-American and part of a national championship team at La Crosse and is a member of the school’s Wall of Fame.

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