Sue Huffman
Entering her 14th season as a head coach at California State University, Sacramento, and her 19th with the program, Sue Huffman has overseen many changes to the Hornet women's basketball team.
Huffman began her association with the Hornets as a student-athlete in 1972 and later returned as an assistant in 1985 and then head coach in 1986. In that time, the
Hornets have moved from Division II to a Division I independent and finally into the Big Sky Conference. The one constant during that span was Huffman who has
managed to have successful teams at every level.
In her 12 years at the helm, Huffman has compiled winning records in seven seasons. Her highpoint came in the 1990-91 season where the team posted a 19-7 record. The winning seasons are even more impressive when you study the opponents that the Hornets have faced over the past few seasons. Never afraid of a big-name foe, Huffman's teams have squared off against Fresno State, Pacific, Kansas State, Ohio State, Texas, USC, Georgia and Stanford.
In 1996-97, the team's first season in the Big Sky Conference, Huffman led the Hornets into the conference tournament as the No. 6 seed. Although the team suffered a
66-55 defeat against Montana State, it was the first opportunity for CSUS to play for an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Huffman, a Sacramento-area native, has regularly relied on homegrown talent to
produce a take-no-prisoners, up-tempo, fast-break style. Included therein is a dependence on every player on the roster to make a contribution.
Huffman has won 152 games during her tenure with the Hornets, the most of any women's basketball coach in school history. After a one-season assistant coach's apprenticeship, Huffman took over the head coaching duties on an interim basis in 1986-87 and then full-time following the 1987-88 season.
Following her first year, Huffman's teams had winning records in each of the following four years. During that span, the Hornets were 65-38 and had a .631 winning percentage. After a 1 3- 16 season in 1991-92, Huffman again had back-to-back winning seasons the following two years picking up 17 wins in 1992-93 and 14 victories in 1993-94. Her career record stands at 149-171.
A standout player for the Hornets in the early 1970's, Huffman played four years under longtime CSUS mentor Linda Hughes. She graduated from Delta High School in Clarksburg, Calif., (1972) and played for the Hornets until tearing knee ligaments while trying out for the 1975 Pan-American Games team. Subsequent surgery forced Huffman to the injured list for a year; she then returned for the 1976-77 season and averaged 11 .2 points per game.
Huffman coached at Victory Christian High School from 1978-84, then spent the 1984-85 season as an assistant at Sacramento City College.
She met her husband, John, a former assistant coach for the Hornets from 1986-1998, in a challenge of the sexes 3-on-3 competition on the CSUS campus. The twosome has been featured in several publications including a cover story in Coaching Basketball, the national magazine of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Sue and John, married in 1980, are the parents of three children, John, 16; Katelyn, 12; and Molly, 5. The Huffmans reside in Sacramento.
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