Russ Rose joined the Western Michigan women’s basketball program in June, 2017 and serves as the associate head coach. He had been an assistant coach before being elevated in January, 2020.
During his three seasons with the Broncos, Rose has helped the program to 46 victories, 23 Mid-American Conference triumphs and a MAC tournament semifinals appearance.
During the 2019-20 campaign, Rose helped WMU to an 18-13 ledger with a 10-8 MAC mark to finish third in the league’s West Division. The 10 league wins, tied for the ninth most in program history, marked the Broncos’ most since 11 in 2014-15.
The squad posted 10 home wins for the first time since the 2014-15 season, and just the fourth time since 2003. The Broncos lost just four home games by a total of 16 points. Defensively, Rose helped the Broncos hold foes to 66.5 points per game, the fifth-best mark in the league and a four-spot improvement from a ninth-place finish in 2018-19.
Individually, Rose helped Breanna Mobley become the program’s career leader in rebounds (1,050) in 2019-20 and earn second team All-MAC accolades. Jordan Walker joined Mobley with all-league honors, earning a place on the third team.
During his second season, Rose helped the Broncos to a 10-20 record with a 4-14 finish in the MAC. The team’s season-best shooting performance came in its conference opener against Bowling Green, when the Brown & Gold netted 34 field goals to contribute to a year-high 84 points scored. Rose’s defensive preparation led WMU to hold Detroit Mercy to 29.2 percent shooting and just 44 points on December 9, 2018.
In his first season, Rose helped WMU head coach Shane Clipfell and the Broncos notch their fourth consecutive year with 17 or more wins, going 18-15 overall and 9-9 in league competition. WMU finished third in the MAC West and made its second straight trip to the conference tournament semifinals after upsetting No. 3 Ball State, 65-54, in the quarterfinals. The Brown & Gold defeated Bowling Green in the first round to give the Broncos their sixth straight season with a conference tournament victory.
Rose, born in Kalamazoo and raised in Gladstone, Mich., brought eight years of coaching experience from the high school, AAU and collegiate levels to WMU. He arrived at Western Michigan after spending the 2016-17 season at the University of South Dakota under head coach Dawn Plitzuweit, working on player development, game preparation and game scheduling.
The Coyotes went 23-9 overall and 11-5 in the Summit League while reaching the second round of the WNIT. With the guidance of Rose, South Dakota ranked first in the nation in free-throw percentage (80.4) and 10th in three-point percentage (37.9) and field goal percentage (46.9).
Prior to South Dakota, Rose spent two seasons on Plitzuweit’s staff at Northern Kentucky, in 2014-15 and 2015-16, working with player skill development, recruitment, game plans, video operations and summer basketball camps. During his first year, the Norse went 19-14 and 8-6 in Atlantic Sun competition. NKU advanced to the A-Sun tournament championship game before falling 60-43 to No. 20 Florida Gulf Coast. The Norse earned a bid to the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) to cap the campaign. The second season resulted in another 19-14 mark and a 9-9 league ledger. During the program’s first year in the Horizon League, NKU fell in heartbreaking fashion to Green Bay in the Horizon tournament title game, losing 80-78 in double overtime. The Norse made another postseason appearance with a trip to the WBI.
Rose was an assistant with the women’s basketball program at his alma mater, Davenport University, prior to joining the Northern Kentucky staff. The 2013-14 campaign at Davenport resulted in a 34-2 overall record. The Panthers advanced to the Fab Four in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II National Tournament and ended the season ranked second nationally.
He spent the 2012-13 season with Central Michigan’s women’s basketball program as its video coordinator.
In August 2011, Rose founded the Michigan Basketball Club, a women's AAU program created to develop high school athletes into college caliber players. Rose was responsible for recruiting athletes, scheduling tournaments, managing the team's budget and creating and maintaining the organization's website.
Rose also spent the 2011-12 and 2010-11 seasons as the head coach of the girls’ varsity program at Hopkins High School in Hopkins, Mich. During his time there, Rose doubled the program’s win total each season.
Rose, a four-year letterwinner and team captain for Davenport’s men’s basketball team, earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2007. He received his MBA from Davenport in 2014.
He and his wife, Shannon, a former women’s basketball player at Davenport, have a son, Cam.
