Bio

In her roles as both a head and assistant coach of the UW-Oshkosh women’s basketball program, Pamela Ruder was instrumental in elevating the Titans into a national power.

Ruder was the UW-Oshkosh head coach from 1997-2005 and the school's assistant coach from 1991-96. In Ruder’s 15 combined seasons, UW-Oshkosh compiled a remarkable 341-71 record (.828 winning percentage), won its lone national championship in 1996, captured nine Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and made 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III postseason appearances.

Ruder concluded her nine seasons at the helm of the women’s basketball team with a 203-46 record (.815 winning percentage), four WIAC titles, four NCAA postseason appearances, one national Coach of the Year award, one region Coach of the Year citation and one conference Coach of the Year accolade.

Ruder, the 1999 NCAA Division III and 1998 WIAC Coach of the Year, guided the Titans to conference championships in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004 and a run of four consecutive NCAA postseason appearances from 1997-2000. UW-Oshkosh won at least 19 games during each of Ruder’s nine seasons, including records of 27-2 in 1999, 26-2 in 1998 and 23-4 in 1997.

Ruder’s Titans advanced to the national quarterfinals in both 1998 and 1999 and to the second round in 1997 and 2000. UW-Oshkosh won the 1998 WIAC title with a 16-0 record while capturing league championships with marks of 15-1 in 1999, 12-4 in 2001 and 13-3 in 2004.

As an assistant coach under head coach and 2017 Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Kathi Bennett, Ruder helped the Titans produce a 138-25 record (.847 winning percentage). UW-Oshkosh secured WIAC crowns and made NCAA postseason appearances in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1996, when the Titans (31-0) became the second unbeaten team in Division III history by winning the national championship in front of a women’s basketball division-record crowd of 4,001 in Kolf Sports Center.

In her 15-year run at UW-Oshkosh, Ruder mentored four first-team All-America players, including two national players of the year. As head coach, she helped Kay Mikolajczak win the 2004 Josten’s Trophy for the most outstanding student-athlete in NCAA Division III women’s basketball. As an assistant coach, Ruder aided three more Titans in procuring All-America laurels, including 1996 Division III Player of the Year Wendy Wangerin.

Ruder, currently the 11th winningest women’s head basketball coach in WIAC history, served as UW-Oshkosh’s assistant director of athletics and senior woman administrator from 1996-2005 before accepting the head women’s basketball coaching position at Southwestern University (Texas) in 2005.

Ruder, who served on Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Executive Board of Directors from 2004-06, registered a 53-76 record at Southwestern University from 2006-2010.

Ruder, a Marshfield Columbus High School alumna, was inducted into the UW-Whitewater Hall of Fame in 1999 after earning three letters in basketball and helping the Warhawks to three national tournament appearances from 1982-84. She graduated from UW-Whitewater in 1984. She was inducted into the UW-Oshkosh Hall of Fame in 2016.

Ruder, and her spouse, Julie Ortman, live in Oshkosh, where she returned to in 2010. Ruder recently retired after serving as the Resource Development Director at the Oshkosh Area United Way for 5.5 years and the Executive Director for Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods for 3.5 years.

(1/5/2023)