By Jaden Lechelt
When Edgewood College was looking for a part-time assistant women’s basketball coach, head coach Chaia Huff was extremely thrilled when former Division I head coach, Kathi Bennett, was interested in the position.
“I was just really excited” said Huff. “My initial thought was that if I can add her to my staff, we are immediately just better. Anything to make our program better, I’m all for.”
Huff added, “The experience she has creates an amazing opportunity for Edgewood College and for my program.”
Huff is ecstatic to be coaching alongside someone with a resume such as Bennett’s. Bennett’s experience includes head coaching at Marycrest College, UW-Oshkosh, Evansville, Indiana, and Northern Illinois University.
During her seven years at Division III UW-Oshkosh, Bennett and her team won a national championship in 1996. Later that year, Bennett also received the Coach of the Year award.
Photo from Associated Press Archives
Huff and Bennett both incorporate the “Pack Line” defensive scheme developed by Dick Bennett, Kathi Bennett’s father. The pack line defense is a half-court defensive system that packs the middle of the paint to make it very difficult for the opposing team to score inside.
Huff gave credit to and acknowledged that “Bennett’s family invented the pack line defense and that’s what I run. I’m only self-taught in it,” Huff said. “Her addition will allow her to tweak my defense and make it perfect.”
Huff referred to Bennett as a “defensive G.O.A.T” (Greatest of All Time) and said she looks forward to working with and learning from Bennett.
In the 2017-18 season, Huff and her program had the fourth biggest turnaround in the nation, winning 11 games compared to zero games the year before. Huff said she definitely wants to make the conference tournament.
Huff admitted that the team is “growing and rebuilding, and rebuilding takes time. However, adding Kathi to our team definitely allows us to speed up that growing process.”
Despite the current rebuilding phase, Huff has big goals for her program and her developing young core group of players: “Certainly we want to win a NACC championship. Do I think it can happen this year? I mean, anything is possible!”
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