Oglethorpe Women's Basketball Team Gets New Head Coach

announced today the hiring of Aaron Nester, Oglethorpe's new head women's basketball coach.

The hire is effectively immediately.

According to a prepared statement released by the university, Nester has spent the last five seasons as the assistant coach at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa and brings a total of nine years experience at the Division III level to the Stormy Petrel women’s basketball program.

“We are thrilled to welcome Aaron to the Oglethorpe athletic family. He’s demonstrated the ability to not only coach winning teams but to also cultivate model student-athletes who are leaders on and off the court,” said Jay Gardiner, the university's athletic director. 

Nester comes to take over a troubled program that began its decension shortly after Head Coach Ron Sattele announced an abrupt leave of absence to deal with a family member's illness. Sattele resigned officially in March, during a season plagued with injuries, the graduation of key players, and little to no recruiting. The combination, spectators said, was the the recipe for a sluggish start for the young team of primarily freshmen and sophomores.

According to Oglethopre's release, Nester worked under head coach Bob Amsberry at Wartburg in each of the last five years and also came to Wartburg with coach Amsberry after the two combined to lift Rockford College, Nester’s alma mater, to their best four-year stretch in program history. At Wartburg, Amsberry and Nester inherited a team that was 7-18 in the previous season and turned them into a 20-game winner, having posted a 21-5 overall record in 2010-11.

In addition to his coaching stints with Wartburg and Rockford, Nester served as a coach for USA Athletes International on three separate trips abroad, most recently as the head coach of a squad of college women’s players on a ten-day tour in Ireland in 2009. Throughout his coaching career Nester has handled all facets of running a successful program including preparing scouting reports, coordinating schedule and team travel, analyzing game video and assisting with in-game strategy, the release said.

“I am extremely excited for the opportunity to join what I think is a great institution in Oglethorpe University," Nester said. "I’d like to thank Jay and the search committee for their consideration. I really enjoyed meeting the great people on Oglethorpe’s campus and look forward to guiding this proud program back to the top of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.”