ST. PAUL, Minn.--Former North Dakota State University women's basketball coach Amy Ruley was inducted into the Minnesota Girls' Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on April 16 in ceremonies held at Macalester College.
Ruley was inducted with Hawley's Bill Gottenborg, Albany's Jon Noreen and Pierz' Rick Sczublewski. The quartet was also recognized at halftime of the MGBCA Senior All-Star game series.
Ruley moved from the sidelines into an NDSU associate athletic director for development position following the 2008 season. She compiled a career record of 671-198, good for a .772 winning percentage in 29 seasons at NDSU.
NDSU made nine NCAA Final Four appearances including five national titles in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. She coached six Kodak All-Americans (six athletes, eight awards), three NCAA National Championship Most Outstanding Players (three athletes, five awards), four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and one AIAW All-American. The Bison also won or shared 10 NCC titles.
Ruley was introduced by Jen Rademacher, a former Bison guard and current Robbinsdale-Cooper High School girls' basketball head coach. Rademacher and Lori Roufs, both Minnesota prep players, played on an unprecedented four NCAA Division II National Championship teams.
"I think we (the former Minnesota high school players) all feel like Coach Ruley made North Dakota State University home for us no matter where we came from," said Rademacher.
NDSU's all-time winningest coach, she was named as the head coach on the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball 25th Anniversary team. NDSU's fourth straight NCAA title in 1996 was selected as one of the "25 Defining Moments in NCAA History."
A 1978 graduate of Purdue University, Ruley was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2004, and the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in November 2004. She was a point guard for the Boilermakers and scored the program's first basket.
A native of Lowell, Indiana, Ruley was recognized as one of the South Shore Sports Legends in Northwest Indiana in 2007.
Ruley recorded the 650th win of her career when NDSU defeated New Jersey Tech on Feb. 10, 2007. At that time, she became the 11th active Division I women's basketball coach to reach the milestone.
Ruley was inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in June 2000, and was listed No. 8 on the "50 Greatest Sports Figures in North Dakota" as selected by the staff of Sports Illustrated in January 2000.
The recipient of the inaugural C. Vivian Stringer Women's Coaching Award by the United States Sports Academy in 2002, Ruley has also received the Fargo Optimist Club's 2002 Friend of the Youth Award for her work with the youth in the Fargo-Moorhead community.
The 1993 WBCA Division II Coach of the Year, Ruley directed the Bison to 25 straight winning seasons (1980-05), twenty 20-win seasons and 18 NCAA playoff berths.
NDSU made nine NCAA Final Four appearances including five national titles in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. She coached six Kodak All-Americans (six athletes, eight awards), three NCAA National Championship Most Outstanding Players (three athletes, five awards), four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and one AIAW All-American. The Bison also won or shared 10 NCC titles.
