Head coach Autumn Rademacher just finished her sixth year on the sidelines for her alma mater and her tenure has seen the program rise back to competing for a Horizon League Championship
In her latest season, Coach Rademacher helped guide a squad that was decimated by injuries and inexperience to hosting a home playoff game for the sixth-straight season under her reigns. Detroit saw 44.1% of its total minutes played on the year by true freshman and a total of 70 games missed by Titans due to various ailments.Â
Her 89 total wins is currently in third place in Titan history, just four away from the UDM record held by her coach in college Fred Procter (93, 1990-96) and two shy of second place in DeWayne Jones (91, 1983-90). Under her leadership, the Titans have earned 17 postseason awards from the Horizon League, including three First Team honors and a pair of Sixth Player of the Year and All-Newcomer accolades.
Following the 2011-12 season, she was awarded a three-year contract extension after the Titans’ 20-win season and WNIT appearance and then the red, white and blue came back to cut down the nets in Calihan Hall as Detroit captured the 2013 Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) title.
During her time as head coach, she has completely turned around a program from the bottom of the Horizon League standings to a Horizon League Championship contender and postseason program. When she returned to the Motor City, Detroit was coming off back-to-back last-place finishes in the HL and just 11 total wins from 2006-08.
In 2012-13, Detroit clinched its second-straight winning season (21-13), the first time it had back-to-back winning seasons since 2001 (17-12) and 2002 (16-14). Not only did they post back-to-back winning seasons, the Titans also had two-straight years of 20 wins, the first time that has happened since they had four-straight years between 1978-82. The 21 wins were the most since UDM went 23-7 in 1997, and UDM also went on to set a school record with 16 home wins, tied for the second most home victories in the country.
The WBI Championship was the first postseason tournament title for Detroit since 1981 when the Titans defeated Michigan, Wayne State, and Oakland in the State-Large College Tournament Championship. 2013 also saw UDM finish in the top three in the Horizon League in 10 different statistical categories, including leading the conference in scoring at 70.2 points per game.
The College SportsMadness.com 2012 HL Coach of the Year guided the Titans to their first 20-win season since 1997 and their first postseason appearance (WNIT) since that same year. Their 14 conference wins also tied a school record with the 14 she had back in 2010. Detroit also made its sixth trip to the Horizon League title game and the first in the Rademacher era as the Titans were the HL Preseason No. 7 team at the beginning of the season only to finish second and advance to the conference championship game.
After starting the year 0-6 and 1-8, UDM caught fire winning 19 of its next 23 games, including an 11-3 record at home and a 9-1 mark against Horizon League schools on Dick Vitale Court.
Detroit also had one of its biggest wins in school history as the Titans went into the Kress Events Center and ended Green Bay’s perfect season with a 70-58 victory in mid-February. The win ended #9/9 Green Bay’s school record 40-game regular season winning streak as well as the Phoenix’ 36-game regular season winning streak over Horizon League teams. It was the fifth victory in Titan history against a ranked opponent – with the last three coming in the last four years under head coach Autumn Rademacher. It was also the first-ever win on the road against a ranked opponent in Titan history and the first win over a top-10 team since Dec. 5, 1981, when Detroit edged North Carolina State, 60-59.
Offensively, Detroit tallied 70 or more points 13 times, including a season-high 90 in a 30-point victory over IPFW. The Titans also broke a 15-year school record in that contest shooting 65.5% (38-of-58) as a team. Detroit outrebounded its opponent in 23 of its 34 games and owned a +4.9 rebounding margin on the season, second in the Horizon League. The Titan defense held an opponent to under 60 points 14 times on the year and under 50 points on five occasions.
Detroit also saw freshman Shareta Brown earn Co-Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-League as well as junior Yar Shayok selected HL Sixth Player of the Year.
The 2010 Horizon League Coach of the Year, Rademacher’s toughness can be seen in the schedule she sets as Detroit is not afraid to get on the court with some of the nation’s best teams. In the past five years, the Titans have faced over 20 teams that have made a postseason tournament as well as 11 ranked programs. Detroit has had its share of victories over those opponents in that time downing top 25 programs in Georgia in 2008 and Green Bay in 2010 and 2012
In 2010-11, Detroit accomplished two more impressive feats by winning a postseason game for the third-straight year as well as defeating in-state rival and Big Ten member Michigan. The Titans held serve on its home court downing Valparaiso to reach the Horizon League quarterfinals, while the 67-48 win over U-M was one of the biggest victories in school history. It not only ended a six-game losing streak to Michigan, it was the first triumph over the Wolverines - as well as against the Big Ten - since 1994.
During the 2009-10 campaign, the former Detroit star guard led UDM to a 17-14 overall record - including a 14-4 mark in the Horizon League – an improvement of five overall wins and seven wins in conference play since her first season on the sidelines. The last time Detroit reached 14 conference wins was when Rademacher was a player during the 1996-97 season, a year that still stands as the only time Detroit has reached the NCAA Tournament. UDM would end the year tied for second in the HL – its highest finish since the 2004 season – and an appearance in the conference semifinals.
After a tough non-conference schedule the Titans finished the season by winning 16 of their final 21 games. UDM played well at Calihan Hall as the Titans posted an 8-1 conference record during home contests. Rademacher’s efforts were recognized by the league as she was honored as the 2010 Horizon League Coach of the Year.
In her first year at the helm of the program, Rademacher led Detroit to a 12-19 overall record, which was a six-game turnaround from the previous season. The Titans also bettered their Horizon League mark by four games (7-11) from the 2007-08 campaign to finish eighth in the conference after placing last in the previous two seasons.
One of the highlights from Rademacher’s first season was in her home coaching debut as the Titans captured a 70-66 victory over 23rd-ranked Georgia at Calihan Hall on Nov. 22. In addition, UDM took Eastern Michigan into double overtime on Dec. 20 in Ypsilanti and the Titans came out on top, 76-75. Toward the end of the season, the Titans won three out of their last four contests, which included a defeat over Loyola in the first round of the Horizon League Championship in Detroit.
Rademacher is the third-leading scorer in Titans history with 1,686 career points. She returned to UDM after four years on the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, which won four Horizon League regular-season championships and two postseason titles (2005 and 2007) during her tenure. Before joining the Phoenix, Rademacher spent seven years as an assistant coach at Western Michigan.
During her tenure at Green Bay, the Phoenix compiled a sparkling 104-22 record, dominating the Horizon League in the process while making a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Rademacher also helped WMU to a 108-100 mark during her seven years with the Broncos. The squad advanced to postseason play four times during her stint there, including a berth in the 2003 NCAA Tournament following its MAC Tournament title.
Rademacher played for the Titans from 1993-97. She earned MCC First Team honors in 1996 and again in 1997, and was a Second-Team, as well as an All-Newcomer Team honoree as a freshman in 1994. She currently ranks in the top-10 in multiple statistical categories after four seasons as a starter at UDM, including fourth in career assists (439) and second in career 3-point field goals (201). Rademacher helped lead the Titans to a Horizon League post-season championship and a berth in the 1997 NCAA Tournament as a senior season.
A native of Traverse City and a Third-Team All-State selection at Traverse City High School, Rademacher graduated from the University in 1997 with a degree in Criminal Justice.
Rademacher resides in Ferndale with the love of her life in her two-year old dog Arnie. Her parents are Geff and Sharlene Rademacher and she has a brother, Jeff, a sister-in-law, Stephanie, as well as a niece, Sydney, and two nephews, Ethan and Collin.
