The University of Toledo women’s basketball program entered its 15th season in 1988-89.
The previous 14 years featured marginal success — one 20-win season, three 20-loss seasons, four total winning seasons, and one second-place finish in the Mid-American Conference finish.
Tradition was nonexistent. Fan support didn’t exist. Media coverage was scarce.
And then Bill Fennelly arrived. Over the next 36 seasons, the Rockets had 21 20-win seasons, 12 MAC championships, nine NCAA tournament appearances, and seven losing seasons.
The quality of play Tricia Cullop instilled in her teams began with Fennelly, continued through most of Mark Ehlen’s tenure, and became the standard again under Cullop.