Cheri Harrer has led the Baldwin-Wallace College women's basketball program to be regarded among the elite in NCAA Division III. Coach Harrer's goal is to lead her Yellow Jackets to the NCAA Division III national title.
Every year, Harrer's team is in the hunt for both an Ohio Athletic Conference regular season and OAC Tournament title as well as a berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
During the winter of 2007-2008, Harrer's program again brought a great deal of respect to the College as her Yellow Jackets compiled an outstanding 27-3 overall record, won both the OAC regular season and OAC Tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament. In addition, her team captured the season-opening Anderson (Ind.) University and B-W Holiday Invitational tournament titles.
Harrer completed her 18th season in Berea and at B-W in 2007-2008. She is the winningest women's basketball coach in school history and has compiled a 374-129 career record and a .744 winning percentage. Her team also excels in the classroom with her 2006-2007 team finishing with a 3.46 cumulative grade point average.
Since coming to Berea in 1990, Harrer has taken the program to the forefront of the OAC and national spotlight. Since 1999, B-W has won seven of the last 10 OAC regular season championships and five OAC Tournament titles and appeared in 10 of the last 13 Division III national tourneys, including advancing to the "Elite 8" three times.
During the last 10 seasons, Harrer has led her team to a 243-44 overall record with an amazing .847 winning percentage -- the best of any school in the OAC. In addition, Harrer and her teams have had 16 straight seasons with 15 or more victories, including 11 seasons with 20 or more wins during the past 12 years.
"We feel that we have built this program into one that is competitive with any other at the Division III level," said Harrer. "Our student-athletes are successful both in the classroom and on the basketball court.
"We emphasize that academics are the most important part of why we are at a Division III school," said Harrer. "We hope that each young woman in our program is as savvy and competitive on the court as she is in the classroom."
Every year Harrer's goals are for her team to win the prestigious OAC title, to advance to the NCAA Division III National Tournament and ultimately to win the national title.
"We have been blessed with great people," said Harrer. "Not only are they good students and good basketball players, they are good people. The young ladies in our program are committed to working hard. We have great team players and they are supportive of each other and all have a common goal. They push each other to reach their potential as a team and as individuals."
Harrer came to Berea and B-W with five years of intercollegiate coaching experience at Bowling Green State University, Bluffton College and the University of Findlay, her alma mater. While earning her degree in math education at Findlay, Harrer was a four-year starter and an NAIA Academic All-American in basketball. As a point guard, she led Findlay to conference, district, and bi-district championships. Harrer lettered two years in volleyball and three years in track. In addition to serving as an assistant coach at Findlay after graduation, Harrer also served as the sports information director.
Harrer serves as the Women's Athletic Director and an associate professor in the Division of Health and Physical Education at Baldwin-Wallace College.
Click here for the Top 50 ACTIVE Division III women's basketball coaches by winning percentage and by number of wins (prior to 2007-2008 season).
To contact Head Coach Cheri Harrer, please call her in the office at 440-826-3299 or e-mail her at charrer@bw.edu.
ASSISTANT COACH JIM VERBA
Jim Verba enters his fifth season as an assistant coach at Baldwin-Wallace College in 2007-2008.
Coach Verba graduated from Cleveland State University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and earned his Master's degree from Kent State University in 1992. Before coming to B-W, Coach Verba was the Head Coach at Brooklyn High School where he compiled record of 195-120 in 15 years.
Coach Verba's Brooklyn teams won five MAC-8 championships (1992, 1993, 1995, 2000 and 2003) as well as five-time Sectional Championships (1993, 1995, 2001, 2002 and 2003) a District title (2003) and District runner-up finish (2001).
Coach Verba was named the Division III State Coach of the Year in the 2002-03 season. He was also selected the 2002-03 Division II-III-IV Coach of the Year by the Greater Cleveland Basketball Coaches Association and was named MAC-8 Coach of the Year for the fifth time. Coach Verba completes his list of coaching awards as a two-time Associated Press Division III All-Ohio Coach of the Year for the 1991-92 and 1999-2000 seasons.
Coach Verba is currently a mathematics teacher in the Brooklyn school system where he has taught for the past 20 years. He also spent a year as a math teacher at Garfield Heights High School. Jim and his wife, Laura, reside in Parma with their two children Taylor and Hannah. Jim's oldest daughter, Megan, is married and teaches third grade in the Waterloo School District.
ASSISTANT COACH DALE MORSE
Dale Morse joins the Yellow Jacket coaching staff in 2007-2008 ad is very familiar with the B-W women's program. Morse has both coached high school basketball and sent Cheri Harrer some of his student-athletes as recruits and his son, Dean '04, was a student coach for the B-W women's program from 2002-2004.
Coach Morse, a 1973 graduate of the College, taught for 30 years in the Willoughby-Eastlake School District. The past nine years, he spent coaching girl's basketball and girl's tennis at Perry High School in Lake County. Coach Morse earned a bachelor's degree at B-W and a master's degree at Cleveland State University.
While as a student-athlete at B-W in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Coach Morse played one season of basketball and earned four letters as a member of the Yellow Jacket golf team.
Coach Morse and his wife, Janet, also a 1973 graduate of the College, live in Wickliffe. In addition to Dean, the Morse's have a second son, Jeff.
This page was last updated on May 20, 2008
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