Lee Rabas Named Head Coach at UW-Fox Valley

UW-Fox Valley, a member of the Wisconsin Junior College Athletic Association (WJCAA), has named Lee Rabas as its new head men's basketball coach. He takes over a Cyclone program that finished the 2008-09 season with an 8-17 overall record, and 4-8 record in conference play.

Lee Rabas is no stranger to basketball in the Fox Valley having spent the past 12 years coaching at Xavier High School and Lawrence University, both in Appleton. As the head boys basketball coach at Xavier he led the Hawks to a 103-56 record over seven seasons dating from 1997-2004. During that time his teams captured two conference championships, finished in 2nd place three times, and finished the 1998 season as the WISAA state runners-up. Thanks to his 1997-98 team's efforts he was named the Post-Crescent high school coach of the year. He was also instrumental in Xavier renaming its gym in honor of former coach Gene "Torchy" Clark.

For the past five years Rabas has served as an assistant coach at Lawrence University under John Tharp and Joel DePagter. The Vikings have been a national power during that time posting a 99-27 record, capturing four Midwest Conference Championships, and earning four post-season berths in the NCAA DIII men's basketball tournament. In 2005-06 the Vikings posted the greatest season in school history when they finished 25-1, spent the last month of the season as the #1 ranked team in the country, and advanced to the Sweet 16 under the legendary Tharp, who is the winningest coach in LU history.

Before Xavier Rabas served as an assistant coach for seven years at four different schools including La Crosse Aquinas H.S., La Crosse Logan H.S., UW-La Crosse, and Neenah H.S. He has worked and run basketball camps throughout the state and midwest for 19 years, serves on the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association executive board, and is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

A graduate of Kewaunee (WI) High School, Rabas is an elementary (K-5) physical education instructor in the Neenah Joint School District. His bachelor of science degree is from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he graduated in 1994 with highest honors. He also holds an M.S. degree in Physical Education from UWL..

Rabas inherits only 4 returning players from last year's 8-17 team, including one of its leading scorers, Karl Sachs of Seymour, Isiah Mader and Max Anderson of Appleton East, and Bill Wildenburg of Manawa. He has been hard at work trying to re-build the roster throughout the summer of 2009 and is excited about the returners and the new players who will be joining the program in 2009-10.